


Black Rose Admirer

by LordJaric



Category: RWBY
Genre: Minor Blake Belladonna/Sun Wukong, Minor Weiss Schnee/Neptune Vasilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 08:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordJaric/pseuds/LordJaric
Summary: The City of Vale police call Team RWBY to a gruesome crime scene involving the White Fang. When they arrive they find a disturbing message that has been left for Ruby. With a crazed stalker after her and people being killed she is determined to find the madman and stop him.





	1. Admirer

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this story a few years back and finished it on Fanfiction. So the story is supposed to be post first year but I started writing it before the halfway point of Vol. 3 so there had been some assumptions made with what I had planned. So take this as a canon divergent story.

The day had started out just like any other day. He had gotten out of bed early after lamenting on his past. He gotten cleaned up and gotten something to eat in his small apartment. He went out looking for a job which was difficult for someone his age as it was. As always no one accepted him and he followed his schedule to go to his therapist. After his talk he headed to the bank, the one advantage an orphan like him had was that he was left money by his family. It wasn't much but he had been able to live off it for the last four years. After he entered the bank his scheduled day took an unscheduled change.

The doors burst open and several Faunus wearing white battle armor and metal mask came running in with weapons drawn yelling orders for everyone to get on the ground and not to move. None of the civilians, himself among them, dared to disobey them. Several of them took position around the hostages, while others went over to the tellers. He risked lifting his head up a little to get a better look at the robbers. They were both men and women amongst the group of various builds. Their weapons varied just as much. He noticed the symbol on their backs, a red beowolf head with a red claw mark through it. _White Fang._ He had heard of the group, seen them on the news but he never seen them in person.

"I said heads down!" One of them yelled and he quickly replied. The Faunus that had gone to the tellers returned to the rest of the group with bags of money. "Is that all of it?"

"It's all going to go back where it belongs." A young girl's voice called out from the bank's entrance. Everyone's attention turned to the would-be hero only to see four young girls. One had blonde hair and had gauntlets around her forearms. Another had black hair and a chain scythe. There was one with white hair and had a rapier. The last one, who stood just a little further in front of the others, had black and red hair wearing a red hood and held a red rifle. He lifted his head to get a better look at them. The girl in the red hood spoke formerly. "And you are all going to jail."

"Don't you kids ever give up?" One of the women Faunus yelled clearly annoyed. "Why can't you stay out of our plans?"

"And let you destroy the city and give Faunus a bad name." The girl with black hair said with a clear hint of anger in her voice.

"You call yourself a Faunus, but you nothing more than a treacherous who-"

"Enough of this." The man from earlier said as he lifted his gun and fired at the girls. The four of them scattered and soon each were taking on a number of robbers. The blonde got in close to her targets and began to punch them rapidly with each contact a dust round went off causing the Faunus to fall back before she delivered knock-out punches to each of them.

The Faunus of the girls ran towards a set of robbers while fling her weapons out like a whip, when she got in close she started hit them with the blades. He could have sworn that there were times that there was two of her. Eventually the criminals she fought were down and out.

The girl with the rapier's approach was to attack from all sides. Every time she moved a glyph would form underneath her and she would slide across the room like she was on ice keeping her sword out to the side cutting the perpetrators. She kept this up until the last robber collapsed.

He watched as the red hooded girl ran towards her set her rifle morphing into a large scythe and spun it around with such elegancy and grace that he was mesmerized by her movements. She would bring the blade of the scythe behind one robber before firing off a round bring the weapon back towards her tripping the criminal before continuing her dance around the others. Eventually her set of robbers downed. The four girls look around admiring their handy work with smiles. Suddenly he was lifted up from the ground and a knife pressed against his throat.

"Enough!" The man holding him yelled drawing the attention of the girls. "Drop your weapons or this kid's blood will be all over the floor." The four seem to hesitate but one by one the put them down. The blonde retracted her gauntlets and pulled them off her arms. The white dressed human and dual wielding Faunus dropped their weapons. But the hooded girl did not put her scythe down.

"Didn't you hear me?" The man asked loudly. "I said put the weapon down."

"Ruby," The blonde spoke up, "I think you should do as he says." The dual-haired girl look back at her and sighed in defeat as she dropped her stand and began to loosen her grip on the scythe. He felt the man's knife press harder against his throat. He realized that the Faunus was going to kill him anyway and probably jump to another hostage.

Just as the hood girl's weapon began to fall, she and the weapon both became blurs as the girl came at them at an astounding speed. The move had surprised the would-be robber as his grip around him loosened and the knife pulled away from his throat. The girl became more focused to his eyes as she neared them her scythe morphing back into a gun and the butt of the rifle slammed into the Faunus' face letting go of him and sending the robber flying into the wall.

"Are you alright?" Ruby asked him. He was to in shock to answer her. She shook him and asked again.

"Ye- Yes, I'm okay." He said looking into her silver eyes that he couldn't help but admire their beauty.

"Ruby!" The girl wearing a white dress yelled as she walked up to them. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten him killed."

"I had to do something, Weiss." Ruby defended herself. "Once he got away there would be no reason for to let his hostage live." Weiss looked like she was about to protest.

"Let it go, Weiss." The Faunus girl said.

"But Blake-" The white haired girl started to say.

"Let's just call the police and get these guys arrested." Blake said nonchalantly.

"Alright everyone you can get up now." The blonde told the former hostages. "No thanks are necessary. But they would be appreciated."

"Yang!" Ruby scolded the taller girl who just smiled back. The rest of what happened was mostly a blur to him the police had come and arrested the White Fang members. They took statements from all the civilians before they started to talk to the girls. He vaguely had been paying attention as he fiddled with something in his hand. It was when the Detective was dismissing the girls that he began focus on them again, one person in particular.

"Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose." He nodded to each of them. "Once again I thank you for your… good samaritan work. But next time please call the police first." The girls gave apologetic smile before saying their goodbyes. His eyes followed the red hood girl before she left.

"Ruby Rose." He said to himself as he looked down at the red rose petal in his hand. "Such a beautiful name." He began to think of his destiny.

* * *

_One month later_

"-and I expect your essays to be on my desk next week." Professor Port said as Ruby was a nudged awake. The bell had clearing rang as all the students were getting up and almost rushing to the exit as they normally did for the story telling Professor. She quickly gathered her things and followed her friends out of class.

"What did I miss?" Ruby asked with a yawn once she caught up.

"Not much." Weiss answered her. "Blah blah this blah blah that, three paged essay on Ursa, what there like and how you fight them."

"Sounds fun." She said dully. "So are we planning another night of crime fighting team?" Ruby started flinging her arms around kung fu style practicing against an imaginary opponent.

"Sorry, Ruby." Blake said. "I have plans tonight."

"Whoo! You and Sun going for a night on the town." Yang said playfully which Blake returned with a glare.

"Neptune asked me out tonight so I'm no good." Weiss said. Ruby saw the smile on the heiress face showed that she was looking forward to the tonight. She really didn't want to rain on Weiss and Blake's parade.

"How about you Yang?" Ruby asked her sister hoping that she wouldn't be stuck a night by herself. But her hopes were dashed.

"Sorry, Ruby." The blonde averted her gaze while scratching the back of her head. "There is someone I meeting up with tonight."

"Oh." Blake perked up. Ruby could see the teasing gaze in the Faunus' eyes. "Do you have a secret boyfriend that we don't know about?"

"No." Yang said calmly wiping the smirk of Blake's face. "Just someone that has been helping me out with something." They continued their walk through the campus talking about things happening in their daily life until they got close to their dorm homes. Ruby saw a smile that she didn't like cross Weiss' face.

"Oh, Ruby." Weiss practically sang. "I think someone left something for you."

"What?" She looked at the door to their room and saw, to her dread, a bunch of roses and a letter. "Really? Another one."

"I think it's sweet." Her white haired partner said.

"I think it's adorable." Her sister said as she wrapped her arm around Ruby's head. "My little sister has a secret admirer."

"Guys!" Ruby complained. "This is already embarrassing. You know that I don't want to be in a relationship."

"The guy is putting a lot of effort into it." Blake stated. "This is the twelve time in the last month."

"I know." The hooded girl said. "I really don't want to break the guy's heart. But I'm really not interested."

"Your hopeless, sis." Yang said with a sighed as they reached their room. Ruby picked up the gifts before entering the room and set the flowers on a table.

"So… what does it say?" Weiss asked. Ruby sighed in defeat knowing if she didn't read the letter that they would find out on their own. As always her name was written on the front in shiny red ink. She opened the heart shaped letter to read the little red written poem.

" _Oh my fair, Rose."_ Ruby started almost without reading the first line. _"How you continue to blossom as time goes on. Never wilting. Never losing your lovely red color. Your stem always strong against the strongest of winds. Oh how I wish to be close to you. But the time is not right. I will leave a wondrous gift for you soon as a sign of my devotion."_ She reached the end of the poem to the signature of the letter which was her symbol but instead of being red it was black. She put the letter away with the others; she thought it would be cruel to throw them away.

"Whoo! He's going to give you something more than roses." Weiss said with some excitement. "How romantic." Once again Ruby felt a sigh escape her lips. It was sweet and all but all this lovey dovey stuff just wasn't her.

* * *

It was night and her sister and friends had all left on their dates leaving her to her to own devices. She was lying on top of her buck looking over her notes on Ursa while writing her essay for Port. She should have paid more attention in class. She only had half a page down so far. She at least had Zwei to keep her company as he slept on the edge of her bed. She began to wonder how everyone was doing when a knock at the door interrupted her musing. When she answered it she found Professor Goodwitch on the other side.

"Ms. Rose." The older woman addressed the young girl in her formal tone. "Professor Ozpin has requested you team's presences at the helipad." Ruby saw the older woman's eyes wash over the room. "Do your teammates keep their scrolls on them?"

When Ruby nodded the Professor instructed her to contact them and get to the designated location immediately. By the time she made it to the helipad her team was already there and a Bullhead waiting for them. Sun and Neptune her there as well but she saw Ozpin dismiss them. They waved to her as they left as she kindly waved back.

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Ozpin." Ruby said as she finally reached the group.

"It's alright, Ruby." He reassured her. "This wasn't planned."

"What's this about, Professor?" Weiss asked. Despite her calm tone Ruby could tell that the girl was somewhat annoyed that her date had been cut short.

"I'll explain on the way." The Professor stated as he moved towards their transport. A few minutes after takeoff he started to inform them of the situation. "An hour ago I received a call from the Vale police requesting your team's presence at a crime scene."

"The police have requested 'our' presence." Yang said with a little laugh. Her humor came to a swift end when Ozpin sent her a not to pleasing stare.

"The lead detective is someone you are familiar with. Mr. Pyrrhus who has presided over many of your… run ins with the White Fang." This earned a little snicker from the group which despite Ozpin's earlier seriousness he seemed to let this go with a smile. However Ruby saw the smile quickly return to a serious expression. "He has informed me of a serious crime that may have a connection to your team."

"We've fought the White Fang several times." Blake stated. "What's changed?"

"I was told to tell you very little of the case. Only that your presence was demanded." He then turned his gaze on to the youngest member the team. "Especially yours, Ruby."

"Why my sister?" Yang asked before Ruby could.

"I'm not entirely sure. I must warn you all before we get there. This will not be a pleasant experience." Several minutes later the Bullhead landed opening the doors reveal a heavy amount of police activity in front of a small warehouse. Ruby saw that a number of officers were keeping civilians and reporters from entering the crime scene. Ozpin led them towards the entrance only to stop when two cops came out carrying something. What it was made Ruby's blood run cold. A body bag that clearly had someone in it. She watched as they carried the deceased to a truck that already had several body bags in it.

"Ruby, come on." She nearly jumped at his sister's touch. Ruby looked into Yang's concerned violet eyes. She saw that the others had already entered the warehouse. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." The hooded girl said shakenly. She tried again with a more confident voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

As soon as they entered the red hooded girl wished she had just stayed outside. There were blood stains everywhere and bodies of White Fang members were still sprawled across the floor. She couldn't stop herself from vomiting all over the floor. Yang was at her side in an instant rubbing her back and asking if she okay. Once Runy assured her sister that she was fine they continued on to the others. Ruby noticed that as they walked that the investigators had to have just been finishing up as various boxes filled with evidence were being carried out.

The only evidence that seemed left out in the open was large pieces of equipment that couldn't be lifted by people. The odd thing about the heavy equipment was that they appeared be in places far from where they would have originally have been. Once they finally reached their teammates and Headmaster, Ruby saw that she hadn't been the only one to lose their lunch. And by the look on her face it had been Weiss. With them was Detective Pyrrhus, a modestly built man of mild height with green eyes and red hair, with a single box of evidence on a table in front of them.

"Ms. Rose, Ms. Xiao Long." The Detective greeted them. He then turned to the Headmaster. "I don't recall requiring you presence, Professor Ozpin."

"Given this grim matter," he stated as he looked around, "and the age of my students I believe that I should be present as a guardian." The Detective seemed to agree to this with nod.

"Seven hours ago there were reports of gunfire at this warehouse." Pyrrhus started to address Ruby's team. "When officers arrived on the scene they said they came upon 'an aftermath of a warzone'. As you've seen many people were killed and there were no survivors. The floor was littered with various objects as if someone was just grapping everything in sight and throwing them around. We suspect that multiple assailants were involved however the coroners have all said that anyone that wasn't killed by a blunt forced object was killed by a single bladed weapon."

Ruby looked at her friends to see that they were trying to process the information that was being given to him. All of this carnage could have been done by a single person. But how could something like that even be possible. And why would they do all of this.

"Due to your involvement with the White Fang I must ask you all where you were seven hours ago?" The Detective asked.

"They were in class I can assure." Ozpin spoke up. Pyrrhus seemed to accept his answer with a nod. "Surely you didn't call my students to all of this just to ask if they had any involvement in this senseless bloodshed."

"Team RWBY has been involved in many conflicts with the White Fang." He defended himself. "I have to follow any leads I come across even if I have serious doubts about them. But that is not why I called them here." The red haired man pulled out a small set of latex cloves and handed them to Ruby. The hooded girl couldn't help herself but look up at him in confusion. "There is a reason I asked for you in particular, Ms. Rose"

As she put them on Pyrrhus put on his own pair before going to the evidence box at the table. He pulled out a small bag with a single item in it. What she saw shocked her, a heart shaped letter with her name written in red ink. He green eyed man handed it over to her. She hesitantly opened it to read what was inside.

_Oh my fair, Rose._ She read the first red inked line almost automatically. _How I wish to see you blossoming smile. My gift so grand for such a small beautiful flower. To rid you of such traitorous weeds that mean you harm. Oh, how I look forward to your continuing blossoming as I give you further gifts. And how I can wait for us our destined union._ As always there was her symbol in black at the bottom. If Ruby handn't vomited earlier she would be now. Her stomach was twisting into knots.

"This was found in the fold of the letter." The Detective interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see him holding a plastic cylinder container with a black rose in it. Her thoughts went to all the gifts she had been receiving for the past month. They didn't seem so sweet and innocent anymore.


	2. Black Hood

Ruby woke up before the rest of her team as she always did. Although she did have a hard time sleeping after what happened last night. As she washed up in the bathroom she couldn't help but think back to what she saw last night. How could anyone do something like that was beyond her understanding. And what sent a shiver done her spine was whoever it was did it to get her attention. Well it definitely worked. She couldn't think of anything else. Once the others had gotten ready Yang sat her down so they could discuss what happened.

"Okay, so how are we going to go about this?" Yang asked as she sat done close to her sister.

"I don't know? The Detective was quite clear about us staying out of this one." Weiss stated. After they had returned Ruby grabbed the letters she had been receiving and handle them over to Detective Pyrrhus, who, after mentioning that she been getting them, insisted that they be handed over to compare to the one at the scene. The hooded girl was more than happy to comply; she didn't need an analyst to tell her that they were written by the same person. She already knew that they were. After that he had been very insistent that they stay away from the case.

"Since when have we let that stop us?" Blake asked. Ruby saw her gaze turn on her. "Especially when it involves one of our own."

"Well you saw what happened." Weiss countered. "Whoever did that is merciless and there after Ruby. I don't think we should just dangle her on a stick saying 'come and get her'. I think the Detective is just looking out for us on this one."

"And how long before they decide just to come after her?" Blake fired back. "We should strike preemptively."

"Personally I want to find him and beat them into the ground." Her sister stated adamantly. "But I don't want put you in danger." She said more softly to Ruby. "What do you think we should do, sis?" The dual-color haired girl looked down at her hands only to realize that she had been clutching her skirt so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. During the conversation her thoughts kept drifting back to the bodies, the letter with her name on it and the black rose.

"All of those people," Ruby said quietly unable to get the images out of head, "are dead because of me."

"Ruby, no!" Yang grabbed her shoulders. "None of that is-"

"I want to find this person," Ruby said firmly as she looked up at the others, particularly her sister violet eyes, "and stop them."

"Alright then," Yang said softly as she pulled her in for a hug, "we find them and we stop them."

* * *

Two loud bangs echoed across the room before the two weapons collided with one another. Ruby felt the strain on her weapon pushing against her opponent's weapon. She looked at her opponent's smiling face and the hooded girl couldn't help but return the smile. The two quickly pushed away from each other and continued to put some distance between them until they were on opposite sides of the room. Her opponent's hammer quickly turned into a grenade launcher while Ruby's scythe turned into a rifle.

Her orange haired opponent on the other side of the arena began to fire off rounds that had hearts on their tips at her. Ruby quickly countered by firing at each incoming projectile causing them to explode before they could reach her. Smoke began to obscure the silver eyed girl's view of her opponent. The loud bang however gave her clue where she was going to be. Ruby quickly sped away from her spot as Nora Valkyrie game flying through the smoke standing on the head of Magnhild. The ginger girl ran into the wall by the time Ruby was half way around the arena.

After the conversation Team RWBY had to run to get to Professor Goodwitch's class. They had just barely made it to class and apparently Nora had already volunteered for the first practice bout. Yang had been very prompt to have Ruby "volunteer" to be her opponent, by jabbing the hooded girl hard enough to make her jump. The dual-colored haired girl swore she would get her sister back for that. But now she understood why the blonde made her go into the bout. Ruby had been so stressed from her thoughts that the match with Nora had been easing the tension that had been building up within her. And she couldn't deny that she was having fun. The thoughts of last night were still in the back of her mind but they weren't as strong as they had been.

Nora had gathered herself and came running towards the hooded girl with her hammer at her side. Ruby was quick to respond in kind with her scythe raised high. As they closed the distance the orange haired girl suddenly lowered Magnhild to the ground and sat on the staff, the continued momentum allowed to slip past Ruby. She had turned around just in time to see the turquoise eyed girl wink at her before the hammer's gun went off launching her into the air. The hooded girl barely avoided Nora's aerial attack. The two stared at each other grinning before they continued the match.

* * *

Yang couldn't help but smile as she watched the bout go on. Since she had woken up her sister had been having a cloud hanging over her head all morning. The blonde couldn't blame her. The sight of the blood and bodies at the warehouse had overwhelmed even her. It was a scene that she wanted to wipe from Ruby's mind. Hearing her sister blame herself for what happened had torn at Yang's heart. So when Goodwitch had asked for a volunteer to fight Team JNPR's energetic member she had "coerced" her sister into it. Ruby's reaction wasn't enough to be mistaken as a "raised hand", but based on the look Yang got it seemed that the light blonde Professor was aware of what she was doing before she called on Ruby. And it was having the desired effect; her little sister seemed to be enjoying herself.

"So," a red head started to say as she sat down next to her, "why did you want Ruby to fight Nora so badly."

"Caught that did you?" Yang said with a little smile to which Pyrrha nodded. "She needed a distraction from her thoughts."

"Does this have to do with what happen last night?" The red head's question caught the blonde of guard.

"How do you know about that?" Yang recalled that Ozpin had wanted them to stay quiet about the case, so if people already knew he wasn't going to be happy. Pyrrha pulled her scroll out, pressed a few buttons and handed it over to the blonde.

"It's on the front page of the news." She said as Yang took the scroll. With one look she saw how the red head knew about their presence at the crime scene, as well as Ozpin's. The image the article was using was of the outside of the warehouse and it had her team as well. She took the time to read what it said.

_Yesterday at 3:00 p.m. a disturbance was heard at a small warehouse in the Industrial district. On arrival the police immediately cordoned off the area and crime scene investigators soon followed. At about 8:00 p.m. bodies began to be pulled from the scene. Shortly after, a Bullhead landed at the scene and Team RWBY, a team of students from Beacon Academy known for their engagements with the White Fang, as well as Professor Ozpin were aboard (see image above) . Why the police would call the team of students to a murder scene is unknown. The one detail that has been shared by lead Detective Pyrrhus Plasmaras was that the warehouse had been a hideout for White Fang members._

The rest of the article went on about the White Fang's activities in the past and recent activities, so Yang stopped reading and handed the scroll back to Pyrrha. The look in the girl's green eyes asked the blonde what was going. She contemplated to defy Ozpin's orders and tell her friend the situation but before she could the buzzer in the arena sounded. Her violet eyes snapped back to the bout to see what she had missed only to see both her sister and Nora with confused looks on their faces as Goodwitch walked between them.

"I'm afraid I must call this dual to an end." The elder woman said. She turned to look at Ruby before continuing. "Ruby Rose, you have been called to Professor Ozpin's office. Your team may accompany you." Yang had no doubt that this had to do with the case. She couldn't help but overhear all the whispers coming from her classmates. No doubt that they had seen the news as well. She, Weiss and Blake made their way to the exit where they met up with Ruby and started their way to the Headmaster's office.

"Why do I feel like we have been called to the principal's office?" Yang asked as they walked through campus.

"Uh, maybe because we have been." Her white haired teammate gave her a look the blonde could only interpret was asking her if she was stupid.

"I'm mean it feels like we are in trouble or something." Yang could help but glare at Weiss.

"Ozpin probably just wants to discuss the matter with Ruby because of the letter." Blake stated in her nonchalant tone. The blonde looked at her sister and to her dismay saw that the excitement that Ruby had been displaying moments ago had been replaced with the distant look she had earlier in the morning.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, Ruby." Yang said as she griped her sister's shoulder. "He's probably going to just go on about how everything is going to be okay and how we should just keep our noises out of this."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Ruby gave her a halfhearted smile. The elevator ride up was a quiet one; as was the short walk to Ozpin's office. As they approached the door Yang could have sworn that she heard an argument happening on the other side. Ruby pushed the button on the door's side and the Headmaster called them in. As the doors open Yang was surprise to see that the Professor was not alone. Detective Pyrrhus was there as well and he was sending a firm stare in their direction, more precisely at Ruby. Ozpin had a less then pleased look on his face, for what reason the blonde wasn't sure.

"Detective Pyrrhus?" Ruby stated in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here about the case." He stated almost flatly. "The coroners have identified the type of bladed weapon that was used to kill most of the victims."

"And," Blake said with a hint of curiosity, "what was it?"

"The wounds were consistent with a large scythe." His eyes seemed to drift back to Ruby. Slowly Yang started to put the pieces together.

"What does that have to do with you being here?" Weiss asked. At the corner of her eyes the blonde saw the girl's blue eyes edge towards Ruby.

"He is here to confiscate Ruby's Crescent Rose." Ozpin said with miff in his voice. With that Yang went off.

"You think my sister had something to do with this!" She yelled

"Yang." Ozpin tried to calm her down but she ignored him.

"My sister is a target of a maniac and you are looking at her as a suspect!" She could feel her blood boiling.

"Yang." The Professor tried again and again she ignored him.

"She has an alibi for crying out loud." Her violet eyes must have turned red at this point but she didn't care.

"Her semblance is speed." Pyrrhus stated clearly not bothered by his insinuation.

"Ruby is fast," Weiss stated with a tone that suggested she wasn't happy with the Detective either, "but she is not that fast."

"I don't know how fast she can be." The red head man went on in a professional tone. "There are very few people known to be skilled with a scythe."

"You son of a-" Yang was ready to punch the man when a small hand grabbed her arm.

"Yang," Ruby said in a soft voice that calmed the fiery girl done, "it's okay." Yang could only stare dumbfounded as her sister walked over to the man that was all but accusing her of murder and handed over her weapon.

"Thank you, Ms. Rose." Pyrrhus seemed to be taken aback by Ruby's forthcoming. "Your cooperation is appreciated."

"Now that you have what you came for," Ozpin said firmly, "I would like to continue our conversation. Team RWBY you may return to your classes." The team took the obvious order and left as quickly as they could to avoid the upset Professor's ire. The elevator ride down was not as quiet as it was the way up.

"Bastard." Yang said blatantly.

"Yang!" Ruby scolded her.

"I'm with Yang on this one, Ruby." Weiss said. "The Detective was accusing you of doing all of this for attention."

"He didn't say that." The red hooded girl defended.

"It was his underlining meaning." Blake countered to which Ruby sighed in defeat.

"Why did you give Crescent Rose up so easily, Ruby?" The blonde couldn't help to question her sister's reasoning.

"I'm innocent and got nothing to hide." Ruby said simply. Yang let out a sigh at her sister's innocent naivety.

"I suppose this means we should call off any plans for now." Blake said. They all agreed now that Ruby was weaponless.

* * *

It was late. Dem saw the broken moon high above the sky from the abandon building's window he stood at. He needed some air from the stress that had been building up over the day. Once he felt like he had cleared his mind he walked back into the building where his fellow White Fang members were at work moving supplies and equipment that had just came in. There were also guards walking around with their fingers hovering over their gun's triggers. Everyone was on edge since the news of what happened to one of their cells last night. We watched as one of his men carried a small container holding an important item. The man almost tripped over his own feet.

"Careful you fool." He almost yelled as he took the box from the fumbling Faunas. "This is too valuable to just drop." He set the container on a table and was about to open it to check the item when he heard a sound above him. He looked up to only see the ceiling. He brushed it off and was about to return to his work when he heard another creak above him.

He couldn't help but notice how quiet it had gotten. Looking around he saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing. Some were even looking up at the ceiling like they were expecting it to cave in. And with another creak everyone with a gun began to fire into the ceiling hoping to kill whoever was above them.

"Cease fire!" He yelled. The sound of straining wood made him think that the ceiling was going to fall on top of them killing them all. Suddenly a blade tore through the ceiling making a hole and a black hooded figure fell through landing on the floor. In the person's hands was a large black scythe. Everyone resumed firing at the figure but they appeared to be quick on their feet.

They cut down the unarmed White Fang members before moving on to the ones shooting at him. They killed many of them with one swing but others they just seemed to touch with their fingers to which Dem swore he saw a brief glow. Dem just happened to be one such person. Soon there were just six of them left including himself and the black hooded figure now stood in the middle of the room with a smile on their face. Now that they stopped Dem got a good look at them to see that they were just boy, possibly in his late teens if not older. The hood covered most of his features but the smile sent a shiver done his spine.

"You got a lot of balls coming here and doing this, kid." Dem said in anger. "But you should have killed us all when you had the chance!" He raised his gun but held off shooting when the kid raised his unarmed hand, his fingers stretched out. Then the black hooded boy clenched his hand and Dem felt a tug at his chest.

* * *

_Several hours later_

Pyrrhus rubbed his temples as he contemplated what to do next. The scene around him was a bloody mess. He hadn't expected the killer to strike again so soon. The red head looked up at the ceiling where there was evidence of gun fire and a large hole. The bodies that littered the ground were all killed by a bladed weapon. He had no doubt that the coroners would determine that it was caused by a large scythe. At least he could rule the young girl off as a suspect.

An oddity at the scene was that several of the bodies were close together forming a circle. Like they just decided to stand all around the killer and allowed themselves to be cut down. Another was unlike at the warehouse; everything seemed to be where it was meant to be. Nothing was thrown about.

"Detective." One of the forensic scientists called him over. Pyrrhus got up from his examination of the bodies and went to the woman who was standing by an open container on a table. Inside were a black rose and a letter. He looked at the woman beside him silently asking if he could pick up the letter so he could read it and she nodded her head.

 _Oh my fair, Rose. I don't know if you will receive this letter,_ Pyrrhus made the prompt decision that she wouldn't, _but our love is too strong for me not to try and communicate with you. There will be those who will do everything in their power to keep us apart but they will fail. I have a plan for our love to be eternal. We will be a Beacon in the sky of Vale._ Pyrrhus put the letter into an evidence bag once he was done. He knew he would have to find this nutcase before he struck again. And he knew that would be soon.


	3. Nighttime Investigation

Blake watched as Ruby worked on Crescent Rose while she sat at the top of her bed. Professor Goodwitch had stopped by their room earlier in the morning returning the red hooded girl's weapon after only a day in the hands of Detective Pyrrhus. It didn't take them long to find out why. The headline of the news told them of another White Fang massacre had happened last night and Ruby again had an alibi. Blake could tell that their leader wasn't taking the news well and was trying to use working on her weapon as a way of distraction, her excuse being that she wanted to make sure everything was still in working order after being out of her hands, but it wasn't working. The distant look in her silver eyes told the Faunus that she was too distracted by recent events.

"Ruby," Yang said with a sigh from the bed above the black haired girl, "just stop. You're not going to stop thinking about it, so just stop." Ruby had been working on the same part for the last fifteen minutes. The dual-colored haired girl let out her own sigh before she retracted her scythe and set it aside.

"I'm sorry, guys." Ruby said in a defeated voice. "I just- I just can't get it out of my head. This guy- I don't understand why he is killing so many people for me."

"Ruby," Weiss said from below her, "don't start blaming yourself over this. This guy is just a nut. And we are going to stop him."

"Yeah, but we don't know anything." Their lead said quietly.

"Well, it is Friday." Yang said with a bit sprit in her voice. "We could start running around Vale and looking for clues."

"Where would we even start?" The white haired girl asked. "It's not like we have any clues to follow."

 _I know where to look._ Blake thought but held her tongue knowing they wouldn't like her idea.

"I got someone I can ask." Yang said. "He's a bit shady, but he has some reliable information. Then there are the crime scenes that can be checked out."

"The police won't let us anywhere near them." Ruby stated, once again she was being rather quiet.

"Who said we had to ask?" Blake stated which got a look of scrutiny from Weiss. "Besides who says they still have the scenes closed off."

"So it's settled then." The enthusiastic blonde said. "We're going for a night on the down." Ruby didn't seem as enthused but she did gained a determined look in her eyes. Blake just hoped that their search would produce some kind of result. Despite Ruby being the target of this madman, she couldn't help feel, despite her cut ties, that the attacks on the White Fang were personal to her.

* * *

Ruby couldn't help but pace back and forth as she, her sister and Weiss waited for Blake to show up in the courtyard; her thoughts going over what had been happening over the past couple of days. Who was behind all of this? Why were they going after the White Fang in particular? Why were they being so brutal? But the one thing that was at the forefront of her mind; the one thing that bothered her the most. Why her?

Why did this man choose her for his affection? What had made him switch from just love letters and roses; to adding bloodshed? What had made him think she would want any of this? What had made her so special for all of this madness? For the past two days she had been asking herself these questions and she hoped tonight she would get some answers.

"What's taking her so long?" Weiss broke the silence that had been hanging over them clearly annoyed by Blake's tardiness. The White haired girl was sitting on a bench in her SnowPea clothing her foot taping on the ground continuously. "I thought she of all people would want to get to the bottom of this considering this nut is targeting the White Fang."

"Would you calm done, Weiss?" Yang said from the tree she was laying against with her hands behind her head wearing her Hunter outfit. "Just give her a few more minutes. It's only like… What time is it?"

"It's eight-thirty." The heiress said still clearly annoyed. "We've been waiting for half an hour." As if waiting for her cue.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Blake said. "I had a couple of things I had to get." Ruby turned greet her friend but was surprised to see what she had brought with her.

"What took you so-," Weiss started to say as she got up from her seat and turned to scold the black haired girl but her blue eyes widened in surprise, "Neptune?" The blue haired boy standing behind to Blake's left gave her a friendly wave. And to Blake's right-

"Well hello to you too, Ice Queen." Sun said earning him a glare from Weiss. "Blake filled us in on what was going on so we figured that we would come and help."

"Don't you two have to return to Mistral?" Yang asked as she walked over from her tree.

"It's still a holiday over there." Neptune said. "We'll still be in town for a couple of days"

"It's good to see you two." Ruby said with a smile. "Thank you for helping us."

"So we can split into three times then." Yang pointed out. "So how should we go, Ruby?"

"Let's see," the dual colored haired girl thought, "how about Blake and Sun," knowing those two had worked well together before, "Weiss and Neptune," she saw the white haired girl's twitch, Ruby figured her partner would want to work with the blue haired boy, "and Yang and me."

"Sounds good to me." Blake said.

"Alright then!" Yang said enthusiastically. "Ruby and I will go meet my contact and you guys go check the crime scenes." They all agreed and went their separate ways.

Ruby followed her sister to where the blonde stored her bike. Usually the hooded girl enjoyed the rides Yang took her on but her thoughts drifted back to the situation. Whoever this contact of Yang's was, she hoped they would give them some useful information. Her only concern was wondering why Yang described the man as shady.

Her red cape flapped through the wind as they raced through the streets on Bumblebee. As per usual her sister was acting like a speed demon. They seemed to be heading deeper into Vale. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, a building with turned off neon signs.

"This place looks closed Yang." Ruby said as she took off her red helmet and got off the bike.

"He doesn't open up until late at night." Yang said as she got off.

"This looks like a night club." She observed the dark building.

"Well it is." Her sister said with no hesitation.

"How many times have you been here?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"A few." Yang said as she walked towards the entrance.

"Why do I feel dad wouldn't approve?" The younger sister couldn't help but point out.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him." The older sister pointed out.

"Yang." Ruby scolded.

"Calm done sis," Yang held up her hands, "I haven't done anything that dad would really be upset over. Now come on and let me do the talking."

The blonde walked into the building and Ruby had no choice but to follow. As they walked down the hallway the dual colored haired girl could hear the pounding music beat in her ears. When they made it into the club her silver eyes where briefly blinded by the flashing lights. Once she regained her sight she saw that the club was rather large, with a dance floor in the middle and a bar off to the side. She couldn't help but notice all of the men in black suits with red ties looking directly at them.

"Hey, boys!" Yang yelled. "Did you miss me?" Ruby could tell that they weren't happy to see her sister. Some of them her glaring, others looked like they were about ready to run in the other direction; all of them had their hands hovering over a weapon of some kind.

"How do you know this guy that we are meeting again?" The young girl couldn't help but ask nervously.

"Blonde, what are you doing here?" A very large muscular man with a beard came walking up to them. He was staring curiously at Yang. Then his eyes fell on her. "And who's the kid?"

"Oh, just a friend." Her sister's presentation of her made Ruby curious but she didn't say anything. "As for why I am here, I have some questions for you, Junior."

"I guessed as much." The man turned around and directed them to follow him to the bar. As they got near the bar the hooded girl noticed a couple of twin women in extravagant dresses watching them closely. One in a white dress and the other in a red dress. "So what do you want to know?"

"Has anyone been asking about the White Fang lately?" Yang appeared to want to get straight to the point. "In particular base locations."

"Funny thing you should ask." Junior said. "Some kid came in last week and asked for that very information. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the recent massacres now would it?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." The older sister said. The club gave both them a questionable look. "So what did you tell him?"

"Just some possible locations of White Fang hideouts." The bearded man said off handily.

"Did he ask anything else?" Yang asked. "Anything that seemed out of the ordinary?" The club owner seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I actually recall him being here a month ago actually."

"I remember that as well." The red dress twin spoke up for the first time.

"You thought he was cute and tried to make a move on him." The white dressed pointed out with a laugh.

"But he wouldn't shut up about some girl named Ruby." The red sister said with announce. This caused said girl to tense up. "He went on and on about how beautiful she was. That she was like blossoming rose. And he was destined to be with her"

"He asked me to find some information on this Ruby Rose girl." Junior said. This made the sliver eyed girl's eyes widen. "Said to come back the next day and I would have something for him." In the blink of an eye Ruby saw the man being yanked across the counter before being slammed up against it by her very angry sister and every weapon in the room other than her own was now pointed at the blonde.

"What did you tell him?" Yang yelled her violet eyes turning red.

"Just that she was some sixteen year old in her second year at Beacon." Junior had given his answer very quickly. "And that she is the leader of her team. And a Schnee is on her team. And her older sister as well. And some other girl."

"What else?" Her sister seemed to be getting angrier as she pulled him closer. Ruby wanted to say something to calm Yang down, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nothing else, I swear." The man was beginning to sweat. "That was all I found out."

"What does he look like?" The blonde demanded.

"I don't know; he wore a black hood covering his face." Junior was giving his answers faster. "Just the other week he had a weapon, a large scythe actually. I don't know anything else." Yang shoved him back into the counter before letting him go.

"Let's go," her sister said, "we're done here." Ruby quickly followed her fuming sister. She couldn't help but notice that every weapon seemed to follow them. She hoped that Yang would never have to return here again.

* * *

The two of them stood on the roof on the other side of the street across from the Vale Police Station watching as several officers were leaving heading home for the night leaving everything to the nightshift. They had been waiting for there to be as very few officers as possible before making their move. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner in crime fidgeting.

"Would you stop being so nervous, Sun?" Blake stated annoyingly. "Everything is going to be fine."

"Fine?" The blond haired boy said with a bit of announces himself. "You want to break into a police station of all places. That's a bit different then a gang hideout."

"They have all the clues to this guy that is after Ruby." The black haired girl reasoned. "I don't know about Yang's so called 'contact' but I doubt that the crime scenes have anything left for us to use. So the police station is our only for sure lead."

"Always sunshine and daisies with you isn't it?" Sun said sarcastically. "Why can't we have more normal dates?"

"I didn't hear you complain the other night." The Faunus girl couldn't help but smile a little at seeing the blush burn into the boy's face.

"Well… I… Ah… I mean." Sun tripping over his words made him looked a little cute to Blake.

"Come on." Blake said to end is misery and started to jump across roofs to the station. She had gone over the building blue prints and found the best way to get to the evidence room would be through the air vents which just happened to be big enough for her and Sun to crawl though. She remembered noting that it was a poor design flaw for that very reason.

Once they made it to the station's roof they entered through the ventilation system. As quietly as they could the crawled their way through to avoid detection. Blake took the lead taking the necessary turns she remembered to get to the evidence room. Eventually they made it over the room, to their luck no one was inside. Lifting the vent cover the black haired girl dropped down closely followed by Sun.

"So what are we looking for?" He asked while looking at the many boxes on various shelves.

"Look for anything dated in the past couple of days." She answered him. "Anything that may stick out about the case." The two began their search and luckily the most recent cases were up front. And when Blake found a couple of boxes with the right dates on them she saw that they had already named the case _Black Rose_. She grabbed both boxes off the shelf they were on and set them down on a table before calling Sun over.

As they looked through the boxes it became clear that the killer wasn't leaving much evidence of himself behind other than the letters and black roses for Ruby. The only thing that the police could use from him was the kind of weapon he used, which didn't seem to be much help. So she turned to what had belonged to the White Fang. She started with a series of papers that appeared to be a manifest of supplies that had arrived and left the particular hideout from dust rounds and weapons to mechanical tools. While looking through it something caught her eye. Something that the police had made note of. A single item only called _The Sphere_ had been noted of arrival but had never left. But the police noted that it was missing from the scene. The vague description of the item concerned her.

"Hey, Sun. Do you have a manifest in your box?" She saw him dig around and pulled out what she was looking for and handed it over to her. She looked through it seeing that there were far more items from the first incident then the second one and not all the items had been accounted for yet. But a number of dust filled canisters were missing. The only conclusion was that the murder had taken them. What she wanted to know was why. Was this obsession with Ruby a ruse for something else?

A sound coming from the door almost made Blake jump. She and Sun quickly put the various items they had pulled out back into their respected boxes and placed them back on the shelf they came from. They then quickly went to the back of the room and hid behind one of the other shelves just as the door opened and Detective Pyrrhus came in.

The red haired man walked over to the boxes they had just been looking through and pulled one of them partly out and opened it. He paused as he looked into it. Then he began looking across the room. Blake had thought they had just been caught for sure. To her relief Pyrrhus returned his attention to the items within the box. He was pulling out one of the manifest when someone else came.

"Sir, there was an incident that may be connected to the case." The man said to which the Detective gave a sigh.

"Another White Fang hideout?" He asked the frustration clear in his voice.

"No, Sir. It was a civilian this time and he is still alive." This got Blake's attention. Someone who had seen the man and lived; this would give them an excellent lead. And the Detective seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Where is he now?"

"He was taken to the infirmary at Beacon. His injuries were severe and he needed medical attention. His girlfriend is being brought in for questioning." The two left the room after that leaving Blake and Sun alone.

"That was too close." Sun said while letting out a breath. "I think we should get out of here. I don't think we are going to find anything else."

She agreed and they quietly got back into the vent and began their way back to the roof. When she was passing one of the vent covers the sound of footsteps made you stop to avoid making any noise that would give them away. She looked to see an officer escorting a young girl down the hallway. Blake was in shock at the sight. The girl had a distraught look in her eyes. Her hair was in dismay. Her dress stained with blood. But what shocked Blake the most was who it was.

_Weiss_

* * *

_One hour earlier._

"Well that was a waste of time." Weiss said annoyed by their predicament. "They completely cleaned the place out."

"Well it was the second attack." Neptune said. "They probably wanted to make sure they got everything to get something that can help them catch this guy,"

The white haired girl couldn't help but be frustrated. She had been really hoping to find something on this creep. Part of her felt bad that she had seen the letters and flowers that had been arriving for the past month for Ruby as _adorable._ Now she really wanted to catch him before something bad happened to her partner.

"Now what do we do?" She asked the blue haired boy.

"Well… we could meet up with one of the others." Neptune suggested.

"Guess we have nothing else to do." Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll but just before she went to her contacts a brief moment of movement across the street caught her attention. Her companion seemed to of notice as well as he tensed up. "Did you-?"

"Yeah." The blue haired boy said quietly. The two of them stood silently waiting for any sign of further movement. Weiss didn't know how long they had waited but it felt like it had been hours. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Someone or something was nearby and she couldn't help but tighten her grip on Myrtenaster.

And then she saw it. It looked like a shadow. It jumped out from behind a dumpster down the street and was making a run for an alleyway. Weiss quickly gave chase after the figure hoping to catch them. She heard Neptune running behind her. As they ran down the alleyway they came to a fork. She quickly decided to go left and told Neptune to go right; he did so with some reluctance.

The white haired girl came to an open area between buildings and stopped when she heard some noise. She quickly pulled out her rapier and turned to the source of the noise. Some trash cans were rattling against each other. She slowly walked over, her heart pounding in her chest as she drew closer. A cat jumped out from behind them causing her to jump a good foot into the air. The animal scurried away as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Weiss couldn't help but laugh at herself.

"All of that over a stupid-" She started to say but stopped when she heard several loud bangs in the air. Her heart drop because of the direction the disturbance came from. "Neptune."

She quickly turned around and ran back the direction she had come from. She didn't know how long it took her to get there but when she rounded a corner she saw the dark figure entering another alleyway across the street from the one she was in. She ran after them only to trip over something on the ground and fall on top of it. That something let out a painful moan. She quickly pushed herself to see what it was and her silver eyes widened in horror at the sight. An unconscious cut up bloodied blue haired boy.

"Neptune!" Weiss screamed. She was having a hard time thinking straight at that point. The white haired girl tried to recall her training for such a situation but the sight of the boy that had melted her frozen heat, as Yang hand once put it, being all bloodied had caused her mind to freeze. She had already dropped Myrtenaster due to her shacking hands. With those shaky hands Weiss tried to do something about the large cuts on Neptune's body. But her mind wouldn't let her think of anything that would help. Instead she grabbed her scroll and started pressing buttons to get emergency help. "Everything- Everything is going to be okay Neptune. I'm- I'm going to get you some help. Everything is going to be okay."

* * *

Weiss sat nervously in the conference room that the officer that had picked her up from the scene took her to. She had calmed down greatly upon hearing that that Neptune's injuries had not been as bad as she had thought. They had just been deep cuts, nothing vital and been hit. But now she was going to have to answer questions, like why they were out so late, who was the attacker, and why she in particular had been involved. And the detective that had been asking her all of this was Pyrrhus. She made up some of her answers knowing that the red haired man would be angered by the fact that she and her teammates were looking into the case.

"You boyfriend regained conscious after being taken to Beacon." Pyrrhus had pointed out to her which raised her mood. "He was able to give a small description of the man that attacked him."

"Good." She said with a little venom. "I hope you catch the bastard."

"Funny thing is that your friend said he wore a black hood cape," the red haired man paused for a moment, "and wielded a scythe. The same kind of weapon that the man obsessed with your leader may be wielding. Funny coincidence don't you think, Ms. Schnee." She didn't know how to answer to that. Luckily she was saved by the woman that walked into the room.

"Ms. Goodwitch." Pyrrhus greeted the light blonde haired woman. "How is the boy doing?"

"He is resting comfortably." The Professor said which brought Weiss her own comfort.

"I suppose you're here for your student." The Detective asked to which Glynda nodded. The green eyed man sent her a suspicious look before dismissing her. Weiss was glad to finally leave, she really wanted to get out of her blood stained clothes and check on Neptune; hopefully visiting hours were still going on.


	4. Findings and Hunches

Ruby watched as the shuttle set down on the landing pad after its long voyage from Mistral. The hooded girl looked over her shoulder to see Weiss talking to Neptune who was still confined to his bed after what happened last night. Ruby couldn't help but feel guilty over the event that had transpired. She knew the others would tell her it wasn't her fault. But this man that was so obsessed with her had now hurt one of her friends. How else was she supposed to feel?

The small medical staff that was said to be on the shuttle exited and walked over to the blue haired boy. They exchanged words with the Beacon medical staff before taking Neptune and rolling him to the shuttle. Weiss walked a ways with them saying her final good-byes to her boyfriend before finally leaving his side and walking back towards the others.

"Well this is one way to end a vacation." Sun said halfheartedly, who had been standing next to her and her fellow teammates. "It's been fun guys but I have to get going." He waved to them and they waved back.

"Sun," Weiss had just made it back to them and stopped him, her voice sounding pleading, "take care of him, please."

"Don't worry, Ice Queen," the monkey faunas said with a reassuring smile, "I'll make sure he is up and about and breaking hearts." Ruby expected her partner to bite back at Sun's comment but instead the white haired girl just gave a small smile. The blonde boy gave a final wave goodbye and gave a small nod to Blake before heading for the shuttle that was waiting for him. The team watched as the ship lifted off the ground and headed off back to Mistral.

"Weiss," Ruby said with worry, "I'm-"

"Don't say it, Ruby." Weiss said firmly. "None of this is your fault." The dual-color haired girl was about to disagree but the stern glare from the white haired girl silenced her protest.

"Come on guys," Yang said breaking up the silent argument, "lets head back and figure out what we know."

* * *

The Headmaster of Beacon watched as the shuttle left with the two Mistral academy students aboard from his office. Despite their denial of what they were doing Ozpin knew that Team RWBY was looking into the matter of the Blake Rose Killer. Part of him wanted to order them to stop but he knew that they would continue their own investigation, like they did during their first year.

The white haired man turned his attention back to the reports on his desk. With what had happened in the last few days there wasn't much to work with. All that was known was that the man was targeting the White Fang, was obsessed with Ruby and, thanks to Neptune's description, wore a black hood, wield a scythe and was in his late teens. Despite the limited information he couldn't help but feel that this case had a slight familiarity to it. It took a moment of looking through the reports for it to come to him.

"Glynda," he called over his intercom, "there are some student files I need you to get for me."

"Whose files do you need?"

* * *

"So what do we know?" Yang asked. The blonde decided that once they got to their room that they should go through what they found out the previous night. Due to what happened to Neptune they hadn't had a chance to do a rundown on their investigation.

"That we dealing with a psychopathic bastard." Weiss said with spite.

"We already knew that," the brawler responded, "what else."

"Neptune and I looked over the abandoned building of the second attack but it was cleaned out." Weiss said after taking breath from her outburst. "But Neptune was able to get a description of the guy. Looks like his obsession of Ruby has gone to what he wears and uses as a weapon, just all in black." Yang saw Ruby flinch slightly at across from her where the hooded girl sat on her bed.

"Well that confirms what Rubes and I found out from my contact." The blonde said. "He had contact with the guy and unfortunately sold him information on us."

"What kind of information?" Blake asked.

"It was mostly about me." Ruby said quietly. "My age, my year in Beacon and my team. Weiss was the only person that got called by name, and that was just your surname." She added the last bit when the white haired girl flinched.

"Should have bashed Junior's face in for that." Yang couldn't help but say. She had been very angry when she heard the words leave the club owner's mouth.

"Yang." Her younger sister gave her a halfhearted scold.

"What about you Blake," The blonde asked her partner, keeping the rundown going, "what did you find at the warehouse." The cat faunas girl seemed too hesitant before she answered.

"We… didn't go to the warehouse." Blake said.

"What do you mean you didn't go to the warehouse?" Weiss asked sternly.

"I decided to follow another lead." She adverted her amber eyes.

"What kind of lead?" Yang asked growing suspicious of Blake's behavior.

"Sun and I broke into the evidence room of the police station last night." The black haired girl said quietly.

"You what?" The other three yelled.

"Are you nuts?" Weiss scolded

"Well that was bold." Yang said with a bit of a smile not being able to hide her admiration of her friend's actions. "A bit rash but bold never the less."

"Why would you do that?" The worry in Ruby's voice made her feel a little bad for admiring what Blake did. "If you had been caught who knows what could have happen. If they had done any digging they could have found out that you were once a member of the White Fang."

"Thank you for your concern, Ruby." Blake gave the young girl a grateful smile. "But I thought it was necessary to find the information that we needed. I figured that if the police still weren't checking out the scene that all the evidence would be collected. So I figured anything of value would be with the police."

"And," Weiss said, her voice clearly still hold a level of disappointment at their teammate, "did you find anything of value?"

"Not much." Blake let out a sigh. "The police seem to be at just as much as a loss as we are. I did get a look at a manifest from both the warehouse and abandoned building."

"So?" The white hair girl asked.

"There were some items missing from both scenes." The raven haired girl answered. "Some dust canisters from the warehouse and something called _The Sphere_ from the abandoned building."

"What do you think it means?" Yang asked. Her interests were peaked to hear that the nutcase that was after her sister was stealing things from his victims.

"I don't know." Her partner answered. Blake's eyes then drifted to their leader. "But I'm starting to suspect that his obsession with Ruby might be a ruse. And that he has something else planned entirely."

"But, why all this deception, if that is the case?" Ruby asked as if she was trying to accept Blake's hypothesis but couldn't. "Why would he go through all this trouble to hide what he is planning. Why target me for his ruse." Yang wanted to comfort her little sister in some way but she didn't know how to.

"I don't know." Blake admitted with a shrug and a shack of her head. "But something just isn't adding up." The room was silent for a moment as they processed the new information.

"So what's our next move going to be?" Ruby asked them.

"I guess we just have to wait for him to make the next move." Yang stated, there wasn't really anything else they could do.

"Whatever we do we should be extra careful." Weiss said. "Detective Pyrrhus is growing suspicious of us."

* * *

Ozpin had been going over the reports again when Glynda arrived. He pulled his eyes away to watch the Professor approach him with the files he requested, he didn't miss the concerned look on her face.

"Are you sure these are the files you wanted, Ozpin?" She asked as she handed them over. The file on top was listed as _Ruby Rose._

"Yes, Glynda." Ozpin said with a sigh while taking the files and putting Ruby's aside for the moment. He had heard her surprise when he asked her for the two particular files he now held. He even had to repeat his request to her. Each had bold red letters written across them. One said transferred, while the other said expelled. "I am sure."

"Do you believe there's a connection between this case and what happened three years ago?" The blonde asked him.

"I don't know," he responded, is uncertainly clear. "There are clear differences but I can't shake the hunch I have."

"No disrespect, Ozpin," Glynda said with a hint of concern, "but I hope you're wrong."

"As do I, Glynda."

* * *

Night had fallen over Vale as he ran quietly through the courtyard. The hooded boy had planned on attacking another White Fang hideout that night but his body was sore form his previous attacks and the fight he had with the blue haired boy last night. So he decided to do something else. His plan was a bit bold, but he felt like he could pull it off. Not to mention he was excited about it.

He continued his run until he reached the building he was heading for. He quietly walked through the entrance, luckily it was late and everyone was fast asleep. He made his way for the staircase and ascended to the floor he was looking for. He made sure not to make a sound as he walked down the hallway to the door that held his destiny on the other side. The hooded boy pulled out a small device, after a few beeps from it he heard a small click come from the door.

He slowly opened the door, the first thing he saw was the haphazardly made bunk beds on the other side of the room. Each bed held a girl with different colored hair. But his interest her to the one that had dual-colored hair. The hooded boy quietly made his way over to the beds to find his rose sleeping on the top bunk to the left. He was surprised to find a dog with her that did not seemed disturbed from its sleep by his presences.

He returned his attention to the girl and pulled backed his hood, letting his dark hair free, to get a better look at her. Her very beauty felt intoxicating to him. It had been so long since he had been this close to her. And now he was so close to her he could touch her.


	5. Fears

Blake was awakened by the sound of a scream. Her instincts made her jump from her bed, only to have her head slam into the one above her. She dropped back down grabbing her head in pain. The black haired girl regained her senses and opened her eyes to find sunlight flooding into the room. She then remembered the scream and quickly but carefully got out of her bed. She saw that both Weiss and Yang and heard the scream as well. They saw Ruby sitting on the far side of the foot of her bed, her body tensed up and a terrified look on her face.

"Ruby what's wro…?" Yang began to ask. Blake turned to see why she stopped, only to see a look of fear on her partner's face. She followed her violet eyes to only have her own fear rise. At the head of Ruby's bed were a black rose and a letter. He had been here. Right next to all of them. And none of them were aware of his presence. Blake prided herself on her senses, but to have someone completely outwit them that it put them in danger was terrifying.

"Ruby it's going to be okay." Yang climbed up to her sister and hugged her. Blake saw that she was trying to keep on a brave face for Ruby, but she could see the look of fear in her partner's eyes. Suddenly their door was slammed open by a red haired girl.

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked in concern as she looked around the room, her weapon at the ready. "We heard someone scream." Over her shoulder Blake could see the rest of Team JNPR, all still in their pajamas, with their weapons at the ready. One look from Yang told her to get them out of here.

"It's alright," the raven haired girl said as she walked over to her friend, "just a little scare."

"But…" Pyrrha said in protest but didn't resist when Blake pushed her out of the room. In the hallway she saw that Team JNPR weren't the only ones to be awoken by Ruby's scream. Many of their fellow classmates were in the hallway, some with their weapons in hand, all looking towards her.

"What's going on here?" She turned to see Professor Goodwitch coming down the other side of the hallway, a clear look of annoyance on her face. "Why do all of you have you weapons out?"

"Professor it's…" Blake tried to stamper out some kind of response but fell flat. Once Goodwitch saw the now broken door she was going to demand some answers.

"Everyone, back to your rooms." The blonde woman ordered before entering Team RWBY's room. No one dared to disobey her. "What happened?" She asked the team.

"He… He was here." Weiss said nervously. "He was right here and we didn't even know it."

"Who was here?" The Professor asked.

"Him." The white haired girl said exasperated. "That psychopathic stalker."

"What?" A look of shock crossed the elder woman's face. "How?"

"I don't know." Ruby said finally recovering from were scare. "But he left another rose and letter." Remembering the letter, Blake walked up to the head of her leader's bed and picked up and silently read it.

 _Oh my fair, Rose._ The obsessive letter started as it usually did. _How it filled me with joy to be so close to you once again. The distance that has been between us has been nearly unbearable. To see you again in your blossoming beauty has closed another gap in our destiny. I know you didn't get my last little. I just want you to know that our love will become a Beacon in Vale's sky._

Blake read over the letter again to absorb the information. This nutcase had been near Ruby at least once before now. Had he broken into their room that time as well? It appeared that her theory that this obsession with Ruby being a ruse was now meaningless. And she feared now what would be coming for the young girl.

Suddenly Yang snatched the letter out of her hand and began to read the letter to herself. Ruby looked over her sister's shoulder to get her own look. Weiss appeared to want to see it as well but seemed to hold herself back, as if she didn't want to intrude. As her partner read the letter Blake saw the blonde's hands going tighter and tighter. The bawler's violet eyes turned into a shade of red. Ruby's face just grew more and more concerned.

"I'm going to kill this bastard." Yang gritted through her teeth.

"Ms. Xiao Long," Goodwitch said firmly, Blake had nearly forgotten she was there, "please remain calm."

"Remain calm?" The blonde said quietly before raising her voice. "Remain Calm? How am I supposed to remain calm when he got this close to my sister?"

"Yang." Ruby soothing voice broke through the tension and she placed her hand on her older sister's shoulder. It seemed to work as Yang's burning eyes turned back to their normal violet color.

"Sorry, Ruby." Yang said solemnly.

"Alright," Goodwitch said with a sigh, "you all should get dressed. We'll go talk to Professor Ozpin about this." The elder woman then took a look at the entrance to the room. "And I'll send someone to fix your door."

* * *

It didn't take long for word of their morning scare to spread across Beacon. Most of the students were scared, particularly the girls. Weiss couldn't blame them. Her team was all girls and it was their room that had been broken into. She saw students whispering to one other; some taking quick looks at her and her teammates as they walked to the cafeteria building. What they were thinking happened, the heiress could only guess. They were still being told to keep what was really happening, a secret.

Once they had gotten dressed Goodwitch had taken them to Ozpin's office where he had asked them some questions on the event. Most of which they couldn't answer as they had slept through the intrusion. They handed over the letter and rose so the Headmaster could pass it along to Detective Pyrrhus to help with his investigation. After that they decided they needed to get some breakfast to calm their nerves. Which was hard to do with everyone staring at them. The moment they entered the cafeteria the whole room went quiet and everyone turned to look at them.

"What?" The aggressiveness in Yang's voice made them all jump; it even made Weiss flinch a bit. All of them quickly returned to their own breakfasts and start talking about something with their teammates. The white haired girl could tell they were making a great deal of effort at avoiding mentioning her team, clearly wanting to avoid the fiery blonde's ire.

Once they got their food they chose a quiet corner of the room to sit down and eat. They didn't say anything or even make an attempt to start a conversation. What was there to say anyways? 'Hey Ruby, I know you must be worked up about your crazy stalker getting into our room but what are you plans for today?' Their quiet meal became disturbed when four sets of plates were set down across from them.

"Uh… Hey… Guys." Jaune stuttered to say as he stood on the other side with the rest of his team. "How are you guys doing?" None of them gave him an answer. Weiss couldn't help but notice that they had the room's attention again. One glare from Yang corrected that. "Sorry if we're bothering you, we can go sit somewhere else."

"It's alright," Blake said breaking the uneasy silence, "we just have a lot on our minds."

"That's understandable." Ren said somberly as he sat down, the rest of his team followed.

"Um…," Pyrrha said as she situated herself, adverting her eyes from them, "I'm sorry about the door. When I heard the scream I feared the worse."

"It's okay." Ruby said in quiet sincerity. "I appre- I mean we appreciate the concern." Weiss looked over to her partner to see the hooded girl ducking her head down from her near slip up. At the corner of her eye she noticed that Team JNPR had caught it as well but they didn't press the matter. Upon closer inspection the white haired girl saw that Ruby had barely touched her food. Clearly she was thinking too much on what was going on. But Weiss had no idea what to say to help her.

"So," Jaune said, "what happ-"

"No." Yang's voice had a firmness to it, but the blonde boy persisted.

"But-," he tried again.

"I said no." The bawler said more annoyed now. Weiss could feel the tension rising and it was only a matter of time before something snapped.

"I'm just trying-" the swordsman said more timidly.

"Jaune!" Yang nearly yelled. Weiss saw some of the nearby students flinch but they kept their heads down. "Now is not the time or the place."

The silence that continued afterwards was beginning to be too much for the heiress. She looked over to her partner only to see Ruby picking at her food. She hadn't eaten anything. Her silver eyes just stared absent mindedly at her plate.

"Ruby?" Weiss tried to get the young girl's attention quietly. The dual-color haired girl looked up to her and Weiss redirected her attention to her partner's plate.

"Oh." Ruby said solemnly. "I guess I'm not that hungry."

Weiss looked over to her teammates to see Blake with a concerned look and Yang shaking slightly. Suddenly Ruby pushed her plate away and got up from her seat.

"I'm…," she started to say, "I'm going for a walk." Weiss wanted to protest but Ruby was already moving for the cafeteria's doors.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang got up and chased after her sister. Weiss looked over to Blake to see a look of worry cross the girl's face. They both got up and went after the two siblings. The white haired girl heard several more feet following behind them indicating that JNPR was following them but she didn't look behind her to check.

Ruby had already made it out the door before Yang had reached her. Weiss and Blake had just caught up when the blonde opened the door only to find rose petals hanging in the air.

"Damn it, Ruby." Yang said in frustration. By then Weiss could feel every eye of the cafeteria on them, but she stopped caring about them.

* * *

She couldn't deny it anymore. Ruby was scared. Scared that this man could get to her so easily and when she was vulnerable. Scared at what he could do to her. But most of all she was scared for her sister and teammates. They had been in the room with her. They had been just as vulnerable as her. This guy could have killed them so easily if he thought it would demonstrate his twisted sense of love.

Ruby was sitting at the edge of a cliff overlooking Vale. She remembered sitting at the very spot after the White Fang's attack that led Grimm into the city during her second semester during her first year at Beacon. She remembered her conflicting thoughts back then. She had wondered if she had tried hard enough to stop the train. People had been injured during that attack and the young girl wondered how bad things could have gotten if her team had fallen to the Grimm before reinforcements arrived.

Now she sat their once more with conflicting thoughts. Despite the clues she and her team had gathered there was nothing to go on to find her stalker. He had remained completely elusive. People would continue to die until he came for her directly. Sure his targets were terrorists, but, like Blake had always defended, the White Fang were misguided by their hatred and anger, Ruby never held them any ill will. They didn't deserve what this man had been doing to them. She wanted to stop this madness but didn't know what to do.

"Ruby." She heard her sister's voice behind her before the blonde sat down next to her. The extra footsteps told her that Weiss and Blake had followed. Yang draped her arm over her shoulder. "Sis, I know that this is becoming difficult for you to handle. But I'm here for you."

"We're all here for you." Weiss corrected. Ruby couldn't help but lean into her sister at her teammates attempt to comfort her.

"We will stop him." Blake said firmly. "Just don't run yourself into the ground by over thinking about this."

Ruby couldn't help but subconsciously laugh, vaguely remembering when Yang had done so many years ago and when Blake did so last year. The dual-color haired girl never thought that she would be in the same situation. But the questions still burned in her mind.

"How?" She asked. "How can we stop him when we have nothing to do so?"

"We'll find something, sis." Yang said holding her tighter. "Just give it time."


	6. The Huntresses or the Hunted

Pyrrhus rubbed the side of his head to ease the headache he was getting as he looked over the new crime scene. It showed him the same M.O. as all the others he had been to over the past three weeks. Dead White Fang members everywhere and no evidence of who did it other then the black roses and notes he left behind for Ruby Rose. Speaking of the girl, it seemed the Black Rose Killer was getting bolder, more cautious in his attacks, but bolder in his actions for the young huntress to be.

The detective had worried that the killer was going to make this a daily move after the first two attacks. However after three weeks there had only been five attacks total. But the break-in at Beacon had demonstrated the lengths the killer was willing to go over his twisted obsession for the girl. Pyrrhus retuned his attention to the scene before him.

It appeared that the White Fang had gotten smart. The hideout that had been attacked this time had been smaller than the others and had fewer personnel. They were spreading out their resources to make it harder for their enemy to attack. If only they knew what the killer was really after. Or what the Detective thought he was after. There seemed to be a discrepancy in the attacks that didn't add up to everything else. The killer seemed to be taking things from the hideouts that he attacked. The various manifests that had been gathered show items missing from each hideout. Dust, canisters, wirers, a transceiver, and the vaguely mentioned _Sphere_ were all missing. None of it made sense to the Detective and his problems seemed to just be growing.

He knew that Team RWBY was getting itself involved in this case. There run-ins with the White Fang the previous year told him that the young huntresses-in-training were not shy about taking a stand against a challenge. And the killer was targeting one of their own. But that didn't mean he liked them taking part in this. This was his case, and he didn't need the help of children to solve it.

"Detective?" One of the investigators called to him.

 _This is going to be a long case._ He thought with a sigh.

* * *

Yang slammed her fist into the table causing her sister to jump from the other side. The blonde gave Ruby an apologetic look before returning her attention to the computer screen in front of her. To say she was upset was an understatement. With what little they had they had to work with, she and her teammates had been searching for any leads that they could follow. Yang had thought with the killer's unique calling card, the black rose, they would have an easy time tracking down the suspect.

She searched for any flower stores that sold black roses and found that very few sold them in Vale. At first Yang and taken this as a small victory that her search parameters had been reduced. Only to find out that the stores in question had sold very few in the last few weeks and that the costumers had all payed in cash; which made it impossible for her to follow the lead. If she could, the blonde would go to the stores and ask for surveillance footage, but there would be no way they would give it to her. She was only a huntress-in-training after all.

The police weren't making it easy for them either. Despite Ruby's connection to the situation they had so far told them next to nothing about the case. Yang wondered if Pyrrhus was deliberately keeping them out of the loop. To the blonde knowledge the police would normally at least give some small detail of their progress to someone in her sister's position. But the Detective had only met with Ruby a few times and that was to just ask her questions. He gave her no answers to the situation. Rather it was standard procedure or the man still believed her sister had some kind of hand in the attacks Yang didn't know. And that just frustrated the older sister further.

The blonde looked across the table to her younger sister who was busy finding her own leads on her computer. Yang couldn't help but admire Ruby's tenacity. After her near breakdown a few weeks prior the dual-colored haired girl had become more determined to find the killer. Yang had no doubt that her sister's determination and strong mind her among the reasons Ozpin had picked her to be the team leader. But she could see the subtle cracks beginning to form around her little sister.

She knew that Ruby hadn't been sleeping well in the past few days. Yang could see the small bags that would go unnoticed to most under her eyes. Her sister had been zoning out in classes so much that the professors had to call on her several times to get her attention. All and all her little sister's walls were beginning to crumble. And Yang didn't know how to approach the matter. Right now she only hoped whatever leads Blake and Weiss had chosen to follow would prove more fruitful.

* * *

Weiss was a little nervous about what she was going to do. Most over who she was going to call and partly for what she was going ask for. But they were running out of options. Every single lead they chased, every clue they followed and every idea they came up with to solve this case lead her team nowhere. What little they had didn't tell them anything. And it was driving them all crazy. She was getting more worried. Blake was becoming more suspicious of every shadow. Yang's temper was flaring. And Ruby was just becoming more agitated.

That was what brought the heiress to this point. Standing in an elevator heading for the communication floor of the tower while trying but failing to put a smile on her face. The idea had popped up in her head before but she had been somewhat reluctant to follow through with it because there was only one person that could help her with it and the white haired girl was unsure if they would help her with this. Once she heard the ding she composed herself before the doors opened.

 _"Hello,"_ the holographic receptionist said to her, _"how may I help you today?"_

"I'd like to make a call to the Atlas Specialist Unit."

 _"Certainty,_ " the hologram said politely, _"terminal five is available."_

Weiss made her way over to the terminal all the while thinking how she was going to go about this. Again she took a moment to compose herself before making the call.

"Hello," An military man answered plainly. "Please state your name and the nature of you call."

"Hello, I'm Weiss Schnee," the white haired girl hesitated for a moment. "I was wondering if patch me through to my sister Winter Schnee?"

The man seemed to be looking over something, probably confirming she was who she said she was before he replied.

"Please hold a moment." The man said before the screen changed to showing the Atlesian crest for a moment and Weiss began to dread her decision even more then she already did. Then the screen turned back on to an older woman.

"Weiss." Winter said seemly surprised. "It's been a long while since you last called me."

"Um, hey, Winter." The younger sister said trying to sound happy. "I know it's been a while but I have a favor to ask."

* * *

Blake knew this was a bit forward especially for her. The black haired girl liked to work in the shadows more than out in the open. Quietly gathering information before she made her move. But the faunus thought it wouldn't hurt to try a more honest method. Although, perhaps going to the place she had broken into weeks ago was not the best idea to go about it.

Her yellow eyes scanned the building in front before she walked through the doors. Once inside Blake saw many officers busying themselves with their work. Some were just working at their desks; others were carrying various items from one place to another, while others were "escorting" suspects. The receptionist saw her and waved her over.

"How can I help you young lady?" He asked once she was standing at his desk.

"I'm here to see Detective Pyrrhus." Blake stated.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist asked her with a curious look.

"No. I'm here for a friend and a case that is connected to her." The faunus took a moment to ponder if she should state the case in question before saying anything further. By the look of the man in front of her he wasn't going to let her have her meeting until she did. "The Black Rose Killer."

At that the man directed her towards the waiting area and said he would get the Detective as soon as possible. As she sat there Blake started to get antsy. She couldn't help but to start too think that perhaps this wasn't a good idea after all. She began to fidget in her seat as she waited and couldn't help but let her eyes drift up towards one of the vents. Part of her began to wonder if she should try and sneak into the evidence room again. Before she could ponder this any further a red haired man approached her.

"Ms. Belladonna," he said, "how may I help you?"

"Detective Pyrrhus," Blake said, "I was wondering if we could discuss the case dealing with my friend Ruby." The man nodded and motioned her to follow him. They walked down a hallway for a couple of minutes in silence before coming to the Detective's office.

"So," Pyrrhus said as he sat down; Blake couldn't help but notice how the man seemly just dropped into his seat as if he was tired, "what would you like to discuss Ms. Belladonna?"

"I was wondering if there any details of the case you could give me." The look Blake got from the man clearly stated that he wanted to know why he should tell her anything. "My friend Ruby hasn't been sleeping well lately. I thought some information might help her out."

"I see." He said with a hint of understanding. "How is she handling all of this?"

"As well as anyone who has a psychopathic stalker." She stated. The Detective nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry, but there isn't much I can tell you." Pyrrhus said sympathetically. "All I can tell you is that the scenes all have the same M.O. White Fang, a black rose and a letter. That's all I can say."

"Well, thank you anyways, Detective." Blake got up from her seat to leave, disappointed in her lack of gain. "Have a nice day."

"Ms. Belladonna." He said stopping her when she reached the door. "The receptionist said you mentioned the case by name. The thing is we haven't made that name public."

"Well," she had to quickly form an excuse, "I figured it was an appropriate name for the killer, so I used it."

"Is that so?" He said with clear suspicion. A moment of silence passed between them. "Good day, Ms. Belladonna."

Blake quickly made her exit of the police station mentally berating herself for her slip up. If the Detective didn't suspecting anything before he sure as hell did now. She continued to scold herself as she made her way back to Beacon. She arrived at her dorm to find the others there.

"Did you find anything out?" Ruby asked with hope

"No. Sorry" She watched the young leader deflate. "How about you guys?"

"Nothing." Yang said with a hint of frustration. Blake rubbed her temple to relieve some of the stress she was getting for hitting a dead end.

"I…" Weiss started to say hesitantly. "I have something. Kind of."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked. The white haired girl pulled out her scroll and fiddled with it.

"You guys remember when he broke into here?" She asked while adverting her eyes.

"How could I forget?" Yang said through her teeth. Blake looked back at Weiss who seemed to be advoiding eye contact with them.

"Well I asked for a favor, to get a hold of the signal used to hack our lock."

"And?" Blake asked trying to get to the point.

"And… I-" Weiss seemed to take a moment before saying anything more. "I had an app made to locate that signal if it is used again."

"Well Weiss," Blake said with a smirk, "that's not exactly legal."

"Coming from the girl who broke into a police station." Weiss stated finally making eye contact, albeit a glaring one, but eye contact none the less. They all laughed at her outburst.

"Well," Yang said with a small smile, "at least we now have something significant to go on."

* * *

It had taken a week. In that week Ruby had gotten more and more anxious. The prospect that this could finally all come to an end made her hopeful but the idea of finally confronting the one responsible made her nervous. The young girl jumped every time Weiss' scroll made a sound, thinking it was notifying them of the killer's location. Her partner assured her that she would know when the time came but that didn't stop the dual-haired girl anxiety. After one week the time finally came.

Weiss' scroll had made a unique sound that she had chosen for that particular notification. They had all gathered together and watched a small beacon moving around a map on the white haired girl's device. They watched as the blip moved from one location to another before it finally came to a rest. The team waited for an hour to see if it would move again, when it didn't the three older girls turned to the young leader waiting for a response. With a small nodded they understood, the time had finally come.

It took them an hour but they finally got to the section of Vale that Weiss' scroll indicated. They found an apartment building. Ruby couldn't help but notice the structures state. It wasn't rundown but not exactly well kept either. Once inside she saw that the walls hadn't been cleaned in a while and some people had left their garbage outside their doors. She and the others slowly made their way through the hallway with Weiss taking the lead following her scroll's direction. They came to a stop in front of a door on the fifth floor of the building.

"You sure this is the place?" Ruby asked her partner in a whisper. The white haired girl looked at her scroll for a moment before nodding.

"What do we do?" Yang asked as her hand came onto the hooded girl's shoulder. Ruby thought about how they should enter the room. Taking in the closed quarters and their weapons into mind she made her decision.

"Yang, you go in first. You should be able to break the door down easily and take him out if he is close." The young leader stated to which her older sister nodded in agreement. "Blake will follow to cover distance. Then Weiss will go in and then I'll follow to cover all of you."

They all agreed to the set up and got into position. Yang and Blake stood on either side of the door with their backs against the hall. Weiss stood behind their faunus friend, while Ruby stood behind her sister. With a tap on her shoulder the blonde quickly kicked down the door and went in the other quickly followed before the hooded girl entered. What she saw shocked her. Roses, red and black were everywhere. But what made her blood run cold were the pictures. Pictures of her. Pictures solely of her or ones where everything else had been cut out. He had been watching her from a distance.

"Ruby?" Her older sister's hand rested on her shoulder. A concerned look, with a hint of rage, in her violet eyes.

"I'm fine." Ruby tried to reassure her. As if waiting to mock her, a ringing sound caused her to jump. They all looked in the direction of the sound to see a scroll lying on a table near a window. She walked over to the device and picked up looking at it, and image of a red and black rose tangled together was on the screen. It continued to ring.

"Put it on speaker." Blake suggested. Ruby did so and a voice quickly answered.

"You came." A young man's voice said. "You actually came."

"Who are you?" The young girl asked.

"I had been concerned," the voice went on as if not hearing her question, "when I noticed the bug on my scroll I thought you might give me away to the police once I set this up. But instead you came yourself."

Everyone turned to look at Weiss who had a shocked look on her face. Somehow the killer knew what she had done and set a trap for them. And they had fallen right into it hook, line and sinker.

"Now, after so long," the man said, "I get to hear your voice again."

"Who are you?" Ruby repeated her question. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm only doing what you do to show how much I care."

"You're killing people." The young girl said trying to understand his reasoning.

"I do what must be done. They are nothing to our grand achievement" At the corner of eye Ruby saw Blake flinch at the remark.

"This has to stop." Ruby said trying to talk reason into him.

"I can't stop." He said firmly. "Not until we are together forever."

Suddenly the scroll was snatched out of Ruby's hand and was now in the hands of her very angry sister.

"Listen to me asshole!" Yang growled. "You're going to leave my sister alone or I will make you. I will beat you into the ground and break every single bone in your body if you so much as come near her. I will kill you if you so much as harm her."

As Yang went on Ruby saw a bright red dot on the back of the scroll. She also noticed that it moved ever so slightly. Her silver eyes widened in realization of what it was.

"Yang!" She screamed. She quickly pushed her sister and in that moment a window shattered, the scroll in the blonde's hand seemly exploded and a loud thud of a dust round hitting the wall happened.

"Everyone down!" Blake yelled. Everyone quickly dropped to the floor and quickly put their backs against the wall the direction the bullet had come from. There they waited… and waited for anything to happen. After a while Ruby saw Blake peak out a window looking for their attacker. "I think he is gone."

The hooded girl gave a sigh of relieve. Then the sound of police sirens coming closer made her realize that they were now in serious trouble.

* * *

They were in so much trouble. Yang stood close to her younger sister as the Detective continued to yell at them. He went on about how they had no business getting involved in the case despite their connection to it. The older sister wrapped her arm around Ruby who was keeping her head down.

"I don't care if you huntresses-in-training! You have no authority to chase down criminals!" Pyrrhus yelled. "Speaking of which, how the hell did you find him?"

They each looked at each other unsure how to answer. What Weiss had done was illegal. And they didn't want to sell her out. They were saved by the arrival of other.

"I don't believe that matters anymore, Detective." A man's voice said. They all turned to see that Ozpin had arrived.

"Professor Ozpin." The Detective greeted the older man. "Figures you would be here."

"I can handle my students from here." The Professor stated calmly. "You should focus on the case."

Pyrrhus turned back to them and glared. Yang tightened her hold over her sister while fighting back her own glare.

"Very well." He said while easing his glare. "For the gain of such a significant lead no charges will be filed."

With that he entered the apartment leaving the girls with Ozpin who motioned them to follow him. They walked in silence unsure of how to explain themselves to the Headmaster. He led them to a Bullhead where they flew to Beacon in continued silence. All the while Yang kept her attention on Ruby who seemed to be fidgeting in her seat. Eventually they arrived in the Professor's office. A single chair in front of his desk.

"Ruby, if you would please have a seat." Ozpin motioned towards the chair.

"Professor Ozpin, I can explain how we-" Weiss started to say but was stopped when the older man held up his hand and again motion for Ruby to sit down. Yang really just wanted to take her sister and get her back to the dorm for her to finally rest after the long day. But her sister followed Ozpins request.

"Professor Ozpin, we were just trying to figure out who was behind all of this." Blake said, the blonde could hear the hint of concern in her voice at the prospect of what the Headmaster was going to do with them. "We wanted to-"

"His name is Kaito Kido." Ozpin stated stopping any further attempts at an explanation. "And he became a student here three years ago before he was expelled."


	7. Attachment

It took a moment for the information to sink in for the young girl. The man behind all of this senseless death and destruction. The man who was so obsessed with her that he thought it was all an act of love. The man who thought that they were destined to be together. He had been a student here at Beacon and was only a few years older than herself.

"Professor, I don't understand." Weiss said braking the short silence that had fallen over the room. "What do you mean he was a student here? Why was he expelled?"

Again the room fell into silence before Ozpin let out a sigh.

"Under normal circumstances I would be obligated not to share such information with you." He said as he turned to look out the window behind him. The older man turned back to them with a smile. "However, as usual with you four, things aren't normal."

Ruby couldn't help but smile a little at his attempt to lighten the mood a little. The professor reached for a set of folders stacked on top of each other. The top one having Kaito's name on it. When he picked up the stalker's folder she saw the one underneath had her name on it. It shouldn't surprise her that Ozpin would have her file given the situation, but it disturbed the young girl that hers was so close the one that was about the boy after her.

Ozpin opened the file and set it in front of Ruby and her team, showing a picture of Kaito. He had shaggy black hair and brown eyes. There was such an ordinary smile on his face that he seemed completely unlike the person she came to know. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him. What could he have done to get expelled? And what made him think what he was doing was right?

"Kido was admitted to Beacon three ago after demonstrating his exceptional skills." Ozpin said leaning forward his hands together. "He had been such a promising young student."

Ruby saw a look of disappoint cross the professor's face. But it seemed that it was more towards himself then towards Kaito.

"He came here and passed the initiation, everything thing was going so well for him." He went on before letting out a sigh. "But he was often the target of bullies. Some more brutal then others. Even his own teammates at times would bully him."

"How could they do that?" Ruby said feeling a bit of sympathy for the boy.

"Not everyone is fortunate to be placed on a team that gets along." He said before smiling. "I do believe that you and Weiss didn't get along at first."

"And now they are good friends." Yang said while ruffling up both girls' hair. Weiss pulled the blonde's hand away and gave a halfhearted glare at her.

"Yes," Ozpin said, "but Kido wasn't so lucky. Far more given his past."

"What do you mean, sir?" Blake asked.

"Shortly after he came to Beacon," he paused for a moment, seemly struggling to get the next words out, "he lost his family."

"Ho- How?" Ruby struggled to ask.

"Soon after Kido passed the initiation, his family decided to come over from one of the villages outside the Kingdom. They were on board a small airship when it was attacked by a Nevermore." Ozpin said solemnly. "The airship went down with no survivors."

Ruby could feel the shock of the information emanating from her friends, mixing with her own. Ruby remembered what it was like to lose her mother. For someone to lose their entire family seemed unbearable.

"We got some sympathy from other students, however that didn't stop him from starting to isolate himself." The professor went on. "After a while some students picked up on this and that's when the bullying started."

"But he had just lost his family." Ruby said.

"Some people don't keep track of the tragedies of others, Ruby." Blake said solemnly.

"Sadly true, Ms. Belladonna." Ozpin said. "Slowly the bullying got worse as the year went on. Eventually it turned violent. Then a single student stood up for him and pushed the bullies away. That's when it all started."

There was a pause. Ozpin looked at Ruby and her friends. He seemed to be contemplating on rather to continue or not. The older man let out a sigh before he finally continued.

"You weren't the first to be a target of Kido's obsession." He stated. "The student who defend him, I won't give you her name for her privacy, she to became a target of his obsession. It started out innocently enough. Flowers and letters. But she didn't reciprocate his feelings. This only drove him to try harder. He began to follow her. Watch her. Taking any little action that she did as a sign. It got worse and worse until she had a mental breakdown."

The young girl couldn't help but let that information sink in. Everything was the same. Every action Kaito had done to that girl, he was now doing to her. The letters and flowers. The pictures indicating that he had been following her. His aggressive actions towards the White Fang. It all seemed to match with what he had done to the girl before. Except one thing.

"Why? Why me professor?" She asked. "Why is he after me?"

"I've been asking that myself, Ruby." Ozpin said as he pulled out his scroll. "Then I took a look into your… past exploits."

He pressed a few buttons before handing it over to her. A video began to play on it and the rest of her team closed in to watch. It was security footage of the White Fang's armed robbery of a bank that Ruby's team had foiled nearly two months ago. It showed the terrorist breaking in and holding everyone up, then her team's arrival and the fight that broke out. Then it showed one of the robbers holding up one of the hostages as a shield. The boy that was being held was none other than Kaito Kido.

The video continued to play showing the White Fang member yelling demands. Then her friends discarding their weapons. Then Ruby watched as she made her move and saved Kaito's life from the terrorist. The video ended and she gave the scroll back to Ozpin.

"It would appear that it was mere chance that has caused this distress in your life. Ruby." He said with sympathy.

"That would explain his destiny obsession." Weiss stated sternly.

"Indeed." Ozpin said.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir?" Yang asked hesitantly. "What happened after the girl had her breakdown."

"She and her team transferred to one of the other academies and she underwent therapy." Ozpin stated. "As for Kido, I was forced to expel him and have him undertake mandatory therapy sessions. He was diagnosed with attachment disorder. The loss of his family and his isolation most likely contributed to that."

"What about the rest of his team?" Blake asked. "I've haven't heard of a three-man team here at Beacon."

"Unfortunately the stigma that Kido created ended up reflecting on his team." Ozpin said. "They became ostracized by the rest of the school and they all ended up quitting."

"So what will happen now?" Weiss asked after a moment of silence.

"For now, return to your dorm room and get some rest. Leave this investigation to the police." Ozpin said giving them the go ahead to leave. He said one more thing before they made it to the elevator. "And Ruby, I'm sorry things escalated this far. I had thought he was getting better."

Ruby gave him a small smile and a nod, hold no ill will towards him. None of this was his fault. She and the rest of her team entered the elevator leaving the professor in his office.

* * *

The next day the news was filled with information about the recent event. Detective Pyrrhus was shown at a podium giving the recent information to the public. Which included a picture of Kaito and giving his name. Yang felt like she could take that as a small victory that there was such a big lead now and it would make it hard for the nutcase to commit any more acts. However, the feeling was short lived upon seeing that her sister did not seem to share in her satisfaction.

She and Ruby were sitting in their dorm room by themselves. Weiss and Blake had already left to get some breakfast. Her sister was watching the holoscreen but her eyes had a distant look on them. The blonde sat down next to her and wrapped her arm around the young girl's shoulder. The silver eyed girl turned her head and looked at her.

"Hey Rubes," Yang said comfortingly, "why the long face?"

"I… I just…" The red cladded girl seemed to be struggling to put what she was thinking into words. "I just can't help but feel sorry for him."

Most people would be surprised by such a statement from someone in Ruby's position. But Yang knew her baby sister well. It was just like her to be sympathetically to others, even those who had done her wrong. If the older sister was being honest with herself, despite her own anger towards the boy hounding her sister, she felt sorry for him as well. He had been dealt a bad hand in life, and was emotionally damaged by it. That wouldn't stop her from beating the crap out of Kaito when they finally find him.

"He has to be stopped so he can get the help he needs." Ruby went on.

"With this new information out to the public he is going to have a harder time moving around." Yang said. "He is bound to slip up and get caught."

"It might make him more desperate though." Ruby added. "I think we should keep looking form."

"I agree." Yang said. Honestly she had been considering taking Ozpin's advice and staying out of this one after the close call last night. But they were already deep into the case. Might as well go all the way. "But we need to be careful. No telling what he will do to get to you. And I'll be damned if I let him even get that close."

"Agreed." The young girl said snuggling closer to her causing Yang to smile and tighten her hold on her little sister.

* * *

Soon. Very soon he would have everything ready. Kaito looked at the various items scattered on the large table in front of him. The White Fang were ambitious he gave them that much. Their attack last year was one thing, but this… this was something else entirely. What they were planning to do with it the dark haired boy didn't know and didn't care at this point. They had now provided him with the ultimate gift.

He turned his brown eyes to the old TV playing the news. The police now knew who he was. But he cared little about that. Kaito was done with the White Fang. Now it was time to get close to his love. His heart was still pounding from seeing her last night. If only she knew how close they were to being together. Then his mind turned to blonde that had challenged their love. The shaggy haired boy foresaw problems from her. He might have to deal with that when the time came.

For now, he returned his attention to the items before him and the plans that went with them. A small smile crossed his face. It wouldn't be long now before he finally would fulfill his destiny. And he and Ruby would be together. Forever.


	8. Violation

The lilac eyed girl looked at the piece of clothing she held up in front of her. Analyzing it for any flaws. The blouse was mostly black with a red fluffy collar. The material that it was made of was silk. She thought how it looked like on the person she would give it to. The blonde thought they would look adorable in it.

"Perfect." Yang said as she threw it in with the rest of the clothing she had gathered before heading up to the cashier. After she paid she went to the changing room holding two plastic bags with two sets of clothes. The blonde set one bag aside and began to pull the clothing out of the other before changing into them.

Yang took a moment to admire her new attire in the mirror. She now wore a dark yellow shirt and a bright yellow jacket, as wells as black skirt and thigh high yellow socks. Maybe she went a little much with the color, but the blonde didn't care. She loved it. Yang packed were pervious clothes into the bag before head out the store and back to Beacon.

She had been planning for this occasion all week. Things had quieted down enough that Yang felt like she could do something special for her team, but mostly for her sister. Being a Friday the blonde didn't have to worry about anything normal coming up that could ruin the fun. So after her last class of the day she told the others she had something to do, which she had to assure them had nothing to do with their current crisis, and headed to Vale to get what she needed. Once she made it back to her dorm room where her teammates were she received some odd looks.

"Um, Yang?" Ruby said with some confusion in her voice. "What's with the new look?"

"Glad you asked, sis." She answered enthusiastically while holding up the bag with the cloths she had picked out for the red cladded girl. "We're going out for a night on the town."

"What?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"Things have been quiet lately so I figured we could use the opportunity loosen up." Yang stated. "There is this new club for young people that just opened up so I was thinking about going there."

"I think that is a great idea." Blake said gaining the normally secluded girl surprised looks from Ruby and Weiss but not from Yang. She had seen how her partner had become more open with people and the blonde was happy that she was now more willing to take the initiative.

"Great. Here you go Rubes." Yang said as she tossed the bag of clothing to her sister. "Some new clothes for the night."

"But…" Ruby started to say.

"Go on." The older sister insisted. "Try them on."

"O… Okay." The hooded girl said and she head for their small bathroom to change. After a short while the young girl walked out in her new attire and as Yang expected, her sister looked great. The blouse she had picked out fit Ruby perfectly. The red skirt and black pants went well together. The red jacket matched with the older sister's yellow one. And of course Ruby kept her hood which just added her personality to the outfit. "How do I look?"

"You look nice actually." Weiss said.

"She looks perfect." Yang insisted. She almost added that Ruby would be turning heads, but the older sister, given the situation of her sister's stalker, thought it was best not to. Not to mention the bawler was likely to punch any guy that looked at her younger sister in that way. The blonde turned to her friends. "You two should probably get dress so we can get going."

* * *

Yang hadn't been kidding when she said the club was for young people. As soon as she got dressed in her Intruder outfit and Weiss in her SnowPea outfit they headed for the club their energetic friend was eager to get them to. When they arrived the newly opened Club Verdant they first had to hand over their weapons, Blake had seen a number of other weapons, some of which she recognized, behind the counter in lock cages. When they entered the club floor there were numerous young patrons in the room. Most of them being Beacon students.

Some of them were sitting at the bar sipping on soft drinks and eating appetizers. Others were sitting at tables talking with one another. A good number of them her on the dance floor dancing to a green hoodie wearing DJ's music. As soon as they entered Yang dragged them over to the bar and ordered drinks for all of them.

As she drank the soft drink Blake took the time to look around to room to see if there was anyone she was familiar with. She saw Team CFVY sitting off to the side happily chatting away. There was also Team JNPR on the dance floor. Everyone in the club seemed to be enjoying themselves. Blake couldn't help but smile. For the first time in months she felt like she could relax.

"This is nice." Weiss said as if reading the Faunus' mind. To which the black haired girl nodded in agreement.

"Yeah!" Yang yelled before she chugged down her drink then slammed it down onto the table. The amber-eyed girl raised an eyebrow at the action think that her partner was maybe being a little to energetic. Then the blonde grabbed their leader's hand and began dragging her away surprising the young girl.

"Yang what are you doing?" Ruby yelled.

"Come on Rubes." The older sister said as she dragged the younger one towards the dance floor. "You need to unwind."

"Help!" The young pleaded to Blake and Weiss. But the Faunus just smiled and watch the scene play out.

"I got to hand it to Yang." Weiss said with admiration. "She always seems know how to help people."

"Yeah. She does." Blake said remembering the time her partner had helped her. The amber-eyed girlreturned her attention to the two sisters and couldn't stop the smile forming on her face as she saw Ruby and Yang dancing. Their young leader was enjoying herself and looked better than she ever had since their crisis had begun. Blake only wished that things could stay that way.

* * *

The night air was filled with laughter as the four girls walked through Beacon's courtyard. They had stay at the club for a few hours and the experience had been worth it. Weiss hadn't had that much fun in quite some time. After Ruby and Yang had finished dancing they had found an empty table and were soon joined by Team JNPR. The two teams had talked about how things had been going, Weiss and her teammates were careful not to bring up Ruby's stalker. After a while they felt it was time to return to Beacon. They said their goodbyes to their friends who had decided to stay at the club for a little while longer.

"Thanks, Yang." Ruby said gratefully. "I needed that."

"Anything for you, sis." Yang said as she wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulder and ruffled her hair to which the young girl whined in protest. Weiss smiled at the interaction. She admired the close bond the two shared with one another.

"So is everyone's plans for the weekend?" The heiress asked.

"Well I was thinking…" Ruby began to say but stopped for some reason.

"Ruby?" Yang asked. "What's wrong?"

Weiss turned to look at her young friend only to grow concerned upon seeing her partners silver-eyes widened. The white haired girl followed her gaze and her worries only grew at what she saw. Although a good distance away she still saw the figure. They were at the edge of the woods that boarded the school's grounds. The black hood was the only feature that she could make out but she knew they were watching her team. Weiss didn't need to think hard to figure out who they were. The figure slowly backed into the forest.

"Ruby." Yang said in concern. "Get-"

But before the older sister could finish Ruby was gone, only leaving rose petals in her place.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled. Their leader reappeared at the forest edge and ran into it. None of them needed to say a word. All three ran towards in the direction their friend had gone.

 _Ruby, what are you thinking?_ Weiss thought fearfully.

* * *

Ruby did her best to run through the moonlit forest but the trees were too close together for her to move effectively, let alone use her semblance. But she wasn't going to stop, not when she could bring this to an end. Even in the dark of night the silver-eyed girl could see the black cloak in the distance. If the red hooded girl could catch up to him and capture Kaito then all of this nonsense would be over and no one else would die because of her. She ignored the distant cries from her teammates that urged her to stop and continued forward.

Her sister and friends had been trying to assure her that none of this was her fault. But Ruby knew it was. Kaito had been doing all of this killing to get her attention and thought it was a sign of love to her. The hooded girl just couldn't get that out of her head. So she bore the responsibility to capture the man on her shoulders.

As Ruby continued to chase after the man the trees kept getting closer together and the branches began to tear at her clothing. Eventually she broke free of the obstructions as she made her way into a clearing. On the other side waiting for her was him. Kaito in his almost all black outfit, his pants, chest plate, shirt and the hooded cloak that mimicked her own. He stood there with a smile of joy that sent chills down her spine.

"My dear Rose," he said endearingly, "you followed as I knew you would."

"You have to stop this." Ruby pleaded. "All of this death you caused for me. It's madness."

"Madness and love go hand in hand, my sweet Rose." Kaito said as he expanded out his arms to emphasize his point. "You did so much last year stopping the White Fang's attack. In order to prove my worth and to fulfill our destiny I must do just as much."

"Why?" She asked. "Why do you believe that there is some kind of destiny between us?"

"You saved my life." He said in admiration. "My life was nothing but one misfortune after another. You gave me purpose. We could do so much together."

"But I don't want any of this." Ruby said adamantly. "And I saved your life because it was the right thing to do."

Her statement only seemed to bring joy to the shaggy haired boy's face.

"You remembered."

"Only because Ozpin showed me the security footage of when it happened." Ruby said causing the man to frown.

"Him." Kaito said with a growl. "That old man is the bane of my existence."

"He told me everything about you." Ruby went on sympathetically. "How you lost your family. How your peers bullied you. How it all just piled onto you and affected you. But this isn't the way to deal with it. You need help to heal."

"There is nothing wrong with me!" Kaito yelled causing the young girl to jump. He seemed to calm down upon seeing her reaction. "I'm fine. I see clearly. And I see what the future has instore for us."

"No matter what that old man says, I will succeed." He said as he stretched out his hand toward her. "Come with me my Rose. Let us fulfil our destiny."

"No." Ruby said adamantly causing Kaito to frown. She reached behind her back and bulled out Crescent Rose, allowing her weapon to unfold into its scythe form. "I will not. This madness has to come to an end. And if you will not stop, I will stop you."

"I see then. Another test." The black hooded boy said as he reached behind his back. He pulled out a black rectangular object that slowly unfolded into a scythe. Ruby took a moment to study her weapon's doppelganger. On first appearance Kaito's weapon looked similar to her own but the silver-eyed girl could see the differences.

The components of his weapon her far less complex then her own. The blade didn't fold up but instead closed up completely to the shaft. It lacked the double-pronged hook that would have been opposite of the blade. The shaft was shorter and at its bottom in the place of a spear point was a spike. Ruby guessed she could take some solace in the fact that he couldn't copy everything about her.

"Let us dance my dear Rose." Kaito said as he started to walk towards her.

Ruby quickly respond by swinging Crescent Rose behind her and pulling the trigger allowing the recoil along with her semblance to throw her towards her opponent. As the hooded girl closed in on the man and swung her weapon at him, he responded in kind catching her off guard as his blade made contact with hers. Kaito then lunged forward with an open hand and she was quick to jump away putting some distance between them.

"Beautiful." He said as he held onto a fistful of rose petals. To which the shaggy haired boy put up to his face and smelled his obsession's namesake. This only served to give Ruby more chills. Suddenly the man ran towards her quickly closing the distance between them and began to lay down a series of strikes onto her.

The hooded girl was quick to block each attack but the quickness Kaito's strikes caused her to back away from her opponent. The black haired man again made a move towards her with an open hand and again she was quick to pull away before he could touch her. She switched her weapon to its rifle form and prepared to fire it at the man.

Kaito was quick to start moving out of Crescent Rose's trajectory and headed towards the woods. By the time Ruby pulled the trigger he had already reached the cover of the trees blocking the dust rounds. A silence fell over the area as her eyes swept over the clearing looking for her opponent, waiting for him to show himself. Her heart was pounding in anticipation.

She heard quickening footsteps from behind and immediately reacted by swinging Crescent Rose around. But it was too late. Kaito was already too close for her blade to hit. His open hand touching her chest. Ruby saw a purple glyph glowed from where he touched her. The hooded girl was quick to get away not knowing what the technique would do and ended up on the other side of the clearing and the glyph disappeared.

"What… What did you do?" Ruby stuttered to ask.

Kaito only smiled as he allowed his weapon to slowly fold back into itself and put it alway. She could only look on in confusion as he raised his hand towards her. The hooded girl felt a tug at her chest causing her to look down. She saw the purple glyph on her chest had reappeared. Then young girl felt her feet begin to be dragged across the ground.

The unexpected action surprised Ruby enough that she dropped Crescent Rose. The young girl tried to dig her heels into the ground to stop herself but the pull was too strong as she continued to be dragged towards Kaito. His outstretched hand waiting for her to be within rage. This only served to make the hooded girl resist the pull even more. But it was fruitless, his hand wrapped itself around her neck and he spun her around and slammed her back into a tree. The move caused her to gasp in pain. And in that moment Kaito did something that completely shocked her that she couldn't move.

His lips latched onto hers. Ruby couldn't process what was happening for a moment. It wasn't until the boy's tongue was in her mouth that she realized what was happening. Once her mind finally caught up to what was occurring the hooded girl tried to push Kaito away. But her arms weren't strong enough. So she started to beat at his chest with her fist hoping to cause him enough pain. But she couldn't put enough strength into her punches so he was unaffected. Ruby couldn't come up with anything to end the violation being done to her.

When he finally pulled away her mind went blank. The young girl couldn't think. What had happened to her? Why had it happened? Nothing was making sense to her at that point. Then a fist plowed into her violator's face.

* * *

 _I am so stupid!_ The blonde haired girl thought as she ran through the woods. What had she been thinking? Taking her sister out for a night on the town when there was a crazed stalker after her was the second stupidest move she had ever made. All the older sister wanted was to get all that was happening off Ruby's mind. Taking her sister to the club was something she thought would help. And it had. Her sister, although resident at first, had enjoyed herself. But that all had come crashing down when they returned to the school.

 _Why did Ruby have to chase after that psycho by herself?_ Yang and her teammates attempted to follow but her sister had already made headway by the time they made it to the forest edge. Now the trees were making it harder to get further in. Eventually she stopped to try and get her bearings. The only sound breaking the night silence was Weiss' heavy breathing.

"Which- Which way did she go?" The white haired girl struggled to say.

"I don't know!" Yang said in frustration. It was difficult to see through the trees in the dead of night with the only light coming from the shattered moon.

"Maybe we should-" Blake began to say before she was interrupted by several loud bangs cracking through the night air. Before Yang could say anything her Faunus friend pointed in the direction that she must have heard the shots come from.

The blonde quickly ran towards the source of the gunfire with her friends in tow praying she would make it to Ruby in time before something happened. The lilac eyed girl could see a clearing up ahead and quickened her pace. When she finally broke through the trees Yang was met with a sight that made her blood run cold.

Yang saw her baby sister being held up against a tree and being forcibly kissed by the man that had been hounding Ruby for months. In an instant the cold feeling was replaced with a burning rage. The bawler charged forward without a second thought, her fist clenched so tightly she could feel her nails breaking skin allowing blood to trickle out. The man pulled away from Ruby with a twisted smile of joy on his face.

 _You bastard!_ She thought as she pulled her fist back before plowing it into the creep's face. The force of the blonde's attack sent the flying across the clearing before he collided into the ground and slid a few feet across the grass. "You son of a bitch! I'll make you pay for that!"

The brown-eyed boy quickly got off the ground and glared at her with a look of rage. His rage didn't match the furry that burned in her red-eyes. Yang could hear Weiss and Blake trying to talk to Ruby, but her sister seemed to be unresponsive. This only caused the older sister's blood to boil even more. Before she could unleash her anger on the man in front of her, he jumped back into the forest, disappearing into the darkness. But he hadn't left yet.

"You can't stop what is coming!" His voice echoed. "Soon all of Vale will see our destiny as a beacon in the sky."

"I'll kill you before you get anywhere near my sister again!" Yang yelled back. There was no response, he was gone. The blonde turned her attention to her sister, the rage she had been feeling vanished upon seeing the blank stare on Ruby's face. The blonde was in front of her sister in an instant cupping her face in concern. "Ruby? Come on say something."

But the young girl was unresponsive to her pleas. The blonde looked at her friends for help but they seemed to be at a loss of words. Yang shook Ruby and begged her to say something, anything. Then Ruby's eyes seemed to regain some clarity.

"Yang?" She finally said. Before the older sister could respond Ruby buried herself into the blonde's shoulder and began to cry. All Yang could do was hug her sister and hold Ruby tightly and try and comfort her as each sob from her sister broke the blonde's heart.


	9. Wilting Rose

She paced back and forth in the infirmary's hallway as her mind was filled with the sight she had just seen hours before. Yang would never be able to forget seeing what had been done to her baby sister. The blonde could feel the concerned eyes of her friends on her but she didn't care. All Yang cared about at the moment was Ruby's state of mind. And her sister was definitely not fine when it came to that.

After Ruby had stopped crying she had retreated back into herself and remained unresponsive to any of the older sister's pleas as well as her friend's. Yang had to cradled her sister back to Beacon. Along the way Weiss had called Ozpin who had instructed them to take Ruby to the school's infirmary. Upon arrival Goodwitch had already had a room set aside for the young girl and had instructed that the rest of them waited outside so she could talk to Ruby in private. This only served to infuriate Yang even more who wanted to stay by her littles sister to insure that she was safe.

So now the blonde was pacing in the hallway waiting for Goodwitch to be done talking to Ruby or for Ozpin to show up. Each second only increasing her frustration. Yang tried to think of something to calm herself down but her mind just kept on going back to what she saw in the forest. She couldn't help but think what would have happened if she had been late in finding Ruby or worse, not find her at all. The blonde shook her head to rid herself of the thought, it would've been too much to bear if something like that had happened.

"Yang," Weiss said in concern from her seat, "maybe you should sit down."

"I'm fine." The blonde said sternly.

"No, you're not." Blake said firmly as she got up from her seat. The black haired girl walked over to her and rested her hand on Yang's shoulder. "You're anything but fine. You're frustrated, agitated and upset. You need to sit down and get your head clear."

"Upset?" Yang said almost in a whisper, before slapping Blake's hand away. "Of course I'm upset! How could I be anything but upset? My sister just went through an experience that no one should go through! And you want to know the worst of it! It's my fault! It was my idea to go out tonight! What was I thinking when that bastard is after Ruby! I put my sister in danger again."

She said the last bit so quietly she barely felt the words leave her lips. The lilac eyed girl saw a look of confusion cross Weiss' face and a sudden realization cross Blake's.

"Yang," Blake said in a comforting tone, "this isn't the same thing. You just wanted to help Ruby get her mind of everything that has been happening. None of this is your fault."

"Yes it is." Yang said adamantly. "Don't you get it, Blake? I put my sister in danger again because of my arrogance."

"I don't under-" Weiss began to say but in Yang's frustration slammed her fist into the wall cutting the heiress off. She continued to stare at the now cracked wall.

"I swear," Yang said with conviction, "I'll make things right. When I find him I'll make him pay. I'm going to make him wish he was never born. I'll make him beg for me to end it all. Then I'll ki-"

"Yang." A firm but soft filmier voice stopped her rant and quelled her fury to a flicker. The blonde turned in the direction of the voice. Just a few feet past her friends stood Ozpin who had finally arrived, but he wasn't the one that drew her attention. The blond haired blue-eyed man did.

"D- Dad?" Was all she could get out. A silence fell over the hallway. Both Blake and Weiss looked back and forth between the father and daughter, seemly unsure what to say. Ozpin was the first to break the silence.

"Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna," the older man said, "why don't you come with me and recount to me what has occurred tonight."

The professor turned around and began to walk down the hallway before either girl could respond making it clear that it wasn't a request. Both of her friends looked back her with concern. It was obvious that neither wanted to leave. But they reluctantly followed Ozpin. Once they were out of sight Yang returned her attention to her father.

"Dad, I-" Before she could finish Yang made the short dash into her father's arms and began to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I tried. I tried so hard to keep her safe."

Ruby and Yang had been keeping in contact with their father since this whole nightmare began. He had been very adamant in his concern for the younger sister's safety. But both girls had assured him that everything would be fine. Yang even promised to make sure nothing would happen to Ruby. A lot good that did the blonde thought as she continued to cry in her father's shoulder.

"It's okay, Yang." Taiyang said soothingly while embracing her. "It's not your fault."

"But I put her in danger again." Yang said while pulling away from her father. She couldn't understand how he couldn't be mad at her.

"Honey, we're dealing with a person," he stated, "that's different from the Grimm. This… man, he was going to come after Ruby regardless if she was out in the open or not."

"But-" Yang said as she looked down at her feet only to have her father lift her chin up.

"It's not your fault." Tai said more firmly, "Okay?"

"Okay." The young girl said. Her father gave her a small smile which she returned. Their moment was interrupted when Ruby's room door opened and Goodwitch walked out with a solemn look on her face.

"Glynda." Tai greeted the professor with a nod.

"Tai." She said quietly back.

"How's my girl?" He asked in a soft tone.

"Physically," Goodwitch said after letting out a sigh, "she is fine. It's her psyche I'm worried about. Ruby wouldn't say much to me other than a very short description of what happened."

"Can we see her?" Yang asked. The professor looked between her and her father before nodding.

"I have to go report to Ozpin." She said excusing herself. "I wish you both luck."

As Goodwitch walked away Yang's father gentle wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her along towards the door, behind which were baby sister was. And she was scared off the state she would find her in.

* * *

"Yes," the red-haired man said into his scroll. "Yes. Alright. Yeah. I understand. I'll see to it. Thank you, Ozpin. Good-night."

Pyrrhus leaned over desk after he lightly tossed his scroll onto it after a long conversation with the headmaster of Beacon. Kaito Kido's assault on Ruby Rose should have come to no surprise to him but the act still upset him. The young girl had just gone through an experience no one should have to go through let alone a young girl. Fortunately, the Ruby's friends had arrived in time to keep the assault could develop into something worse.

It was ironic really. He had been very adamant about his displeasure over the team of young huntresses-to-be getting involved in this case partly because as a professional he saw their involvement as a nuances to the case. But he was more concern what would happen to them. So it was ironic that the assault on Ms. Rose would happen when they weren't looking into the case.

His thoughts were interrupted when his scroll went off. The green-eyed man looked at the I.D. of the caller, but the screen told him the caller had blocked it. The detective picked up his scroll and to answer his mysterious caller.

"Hello." Pyrrhus said. There was no answer. "Hello"

Then a voice came over saying a series of words and a location. His eyes widened before the caller hanged up. The detective immediately got up from his seat, grabbed his coat and headed for the door. On his way out of the building some of his colleagues asked him where he was going. Pyrrhus just replied that he was heading out to meet an old friend.

* * *

The father of two had been outraged when he received word on what had happen to Ruby. Taiyang had taken the earliest fight from Patch to Vale to get to his baby girl. However, upon seeing Yang's distraught behavior he had buried his anger to try and reassure his oldest child. Now his furry was threating to boil over again.

When he entered the room Tai saw a small body curled up into a ball lying on a bed. The father wanted to let out his anger on something but he buried it for the sake of his girls. The blond had to stay strong for them. He couldn't fall apart on them again. Tai walked over and sat done beside Ruby.

"Hey, Rosebud." He said as he rested his hand on her shoulder. She lifted up her head from her pillow to look at him.

"Daddy?" Ruby said quietly. Before Tai could respond his young girl got up and hugged him tightly. She was letting out small sobs as she held on.

"Hey, there." The father said soothingly as he hugged her back. "It's alright. Everything will be alright."

"It's too much, dad." His little girl said. "All of this, all of these things he has done, because of me."

Tai looked back at his oldest in confusing. Yang seem to have a solemn look on her face. Then it hit him what had really left Ruby in this state. It wasn't the kissed that was forced on her. No that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. This deranged man had been kill a great many people out of some sort of twisted sense of love for his little rose. Yang had told him how hard Ruby had been taking it. And it had finally broken her down.

"Ozpin told me why this man is obsessed with." The father stated softly. "But you know what? I'm proud of you."

Ruby looked up at him in confusion.

"Because you saved his life." Tai said with a small smile. "I would expect nothing less from one of my girls. You're becoming a huntress, Ruby. Saving people is what you do. And your mother would be as proud of you as I am."

"Yeah, Rubes." His oldest said finally breaking her silence. She sat down next to her young sister. "You are a good person. And I couldn't be more proud for what you've become and what you will become in the future."

"This man's actions have no accountability on you." He stated. "No matter what anyone says. None of what he does is your fault."

His little rosebud seemed to contemplate what was said to her before laying her head on his chest with a smile. Tai finally felt at ease for the first time that night. He tightened his hold on the little girl. Soon Yang joined in the embrace.

"Could we just stay like this for a little while?" Ruby asked serenely.

"Of course we can." The father said. Happy in the thought of being so close to his two girls.

* * *

Pyrrhus walked around the alleyway he had arrived at only half an hour ago. He was a little nervous. It had been years this he had heard from his contact. So to get word from him while in the middle of a case surprised him a bit. So here the red-haired man was, waiting in a dark alley. His friend always did like being cliché.

"You're early." A voice said from the darkness drawing the detective's attention. A man walked into what little light there was in the alley. Revealing his white uniform, dark brown-hair and his bat-ears.

"Well your call seemed urgent." Pyrrhus said sternly as the Faunus walked up to him. There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared each other down. Then they embraced one another. "It's good to see you old friend."

"It's good to see you to." The Faunus said back before pulling away.

"How's life treating you these last few years, Edom." The detective asked.

"Undercover work is tough." The brown-haired man said with a sigh. "But I get by. How's your case going?"

"It's a nightmare." Pyrrhus stated in frustration. "Kido has been doing all of this over a girl that is attending Beacon. She and her team have been getting involved in the case to my great annoyance. She was just assaulted to night. Luckily her friends arrived before it could develop into something worse."

"Well, I'm about to make things even more difficult for then." Edom stated.

"Is this what you called me here for?" The red=haired man asked. His friend nodded and began to tell him everything that the White Fang had been up to and what had been going on with Kido's attacks. When he finished Pyrrhus' eyes were as wide as saucers. "Are the White Fang insane? Where did they even get the parts they would need for that?"

"I don't know." The Faunas said. "I'm not high enough up in the hierarchy to know everything. All I know is that they have friends in high places."

"And now the kid has all of it?" Pyrrhus asked still astonished at he was hearing. He received a nod from Edom. "Good god. Now it all makes sense."

"Not all is lost." Edom said as he pulled out a small device. "I slipped a tracer on one of the pieces when I was able to."

The detective took the device from his friend an activated it. A mapped popped up on the screen and showed a blimp not far from where they were standing.

"Good thinking." The red-haired man said to his friend. "Let's head out."

The location was close enough that the two made their way on foot. They arrived to a small abandoned warehouse. Pyrrhus could see a small amount of light coming from one of the windows. Two quietly approached the door and stood on either side of it. They pulled out their weapons and prepared to enter. Being closer to the handle the detective reached for it before looking at his partner.

"Just like old times." The Faunus said as he prepared for their breach.

"Yeah." Pyrrhus said before forcing the door open allowing them to enter.

* * *

Weiss sat quietly in the waiting room as she tried to fight off the weariness that was trying to overtake her. It had been hours since Ruby and Yang's father had arrived and he and Yang hadn't left Ruby's room since. Out the window nearby the blue-eyed girl could see light just starting to reach over the horizon signaling that the sun would rise soon.

She turned her attention to the Faunus girl that sat beside her. Blake had apparently lost her battle and was fast asleep. The heiress couldn't help but think back to what was said between the black-haired girl and Yang. That the blonde had at some point had put Ruby in danger once, or at least that was what Yang believed, and Blake knew about it. Weiss couldn't help but feel like she was being left out of some sort of big secret between her friends.

 _It's not important right now._ The white-haired girl thought to herself returning her mind to the events that had transpired over the night. She hoped that Ruby would be alright. See her usually upbeat partner being so quiet and distant was unnerving to Weiss. Hopefully being with some of her family members would help the dual-colored haired girl's state of mind.

Her blue-eyes looked up at the holo-TV hoping to find something interesting to take her mind of things for a little bit. But what she saw did the exact opposite. The news was on with a headline that then chills down her spine. Weiss got up from her seat and went up to the TV so she could turn up the sound.

" _Police responded to a disturbance last night at this abandoned warehouse."_ The reporter said. _"Upon arrival investigators found two dead bodies. One was an unknown Faunus and the other was Detective Pyrrhus._


	10. Revelation

The two young girls walked quietly towards the academy's library. Both of them were pretty tired from the events of the night before. From the electrifying fun to the drastic turmoil it was needless to say that they were worn down. After telling Ozpin what had occurred Blake had been unable to stay awake and had fallen asleep in the waiting room only to be shaken awake by a worried Weiss. What the heiress told her made the Faunus worry how Ruby would take the news on top of everything that had already happened.

To Blake's pleasant surprise her young friend had taken the news better than expected. Although she took the information hard Ruby wasn't taking any blame for it like she had been for everything beforehand. The only thing the black-haired girl could conclude was that in the short time Taiyang had arrived that the father had done something to calm the young girl down. Now the Xiao Long-Rose family were out catching up with one another.

Which left Blake and Weiss alone with nothing to do other than rest to regain their energy. That was until Ozpin contacted them asking them to meet him at the library. So now the two weary girls were quietly trekking their way. That was until the white-haired girl broke the silence.

"Hey, Blake?" Weiss seemed to hesitate to ask. "Last night. What did Yang mean by putting Ruby in danger again?"

The sudden question caused the black-haired girl to stop in her tracks. What her friend had just asked her was a deeply personal inquiry. And Blake didn't know how to handle the situation.

"Weiss I-" Blake tried to say. "I don't think I can tell you that. I don't know if Yang would want me to share something so personal."

"If it is so personal," the blue-eyed girl asked with a slight glare, "then how do know so much about it?"

Blake let out a small sigh. She knew why Weiss was upset. Her friend felt like she was being left out of something important their friends.

"I won't go into details," she began solemnly, "When I was obsessed with finding Torchwick last year Yang pulled me away to tell me about a time when she was obsessed with finding… someone. She told me in her search she and Ruby were nearly killed by a pack of Beowolves. If it hadn't been for their uncle, they wouldn't be here today. That's why she was being so hard on herself last night."

"Oh." Weiss said with a small hint of understanding in her voice as they continued their walk for the library. On arrival they were greeted by Professor Goodwitch who led them to a more private study room. When they entered they saw Ozpin standing by a table with several boxes on it.

"Hello Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna." He greeted them with a small smile. "How are you holding up?"

"As best as we can given the situation." Weiss answered.

"Ruby is doing better now thanks to her father." Blake added.

"Yes. I thought it would be best to bring him here to help her through this crisis."

"Um, professor, if you don't mind me asking?" Weiss asked. "But why have you called us here?"

"You've undoubtedly heard the news of what happened to Detective Pyrrhus." Ozpin said solemnly after letting out a sigh. "I believe Kido had something to do with his death. Which means that the detective was on to something. So I requested the investigators to send me copies of the documented evidence they have collected telling them that since this involves one of my students that I would like to investigate as well."

Blake shared a look with Weiss and saw the same expression she was feeling. Was this why they were there now? To help in the investigation. As if reading their minds, Ozpin answered the unspoken question.

"As you may have guessed, I would like your assistance in this matter." He said. At the corner of her eye's Blake saw Goodwitch giving a disapproving look. "As headmaster my time is need elsewhere. However, considering your team's… connection to this case, I thought it best to enlist your assistance."

"What is it you want us to do?" Blake asked.

"I would like you to shift through the evidence and see if you can find anything the investigators missed." Ozpin said. "What Kido might be planning. What his next target could be. Anything that could help catch him."

"What about Ruby and Yang?" Weiss asked, there was a small hint of worry in her voice. "Should they be involved in this?"

"They of course are invited as well. I just figured they would want to spend time with their father so I haven't called them yet."

Blake and Weiss nodded their heads in understanding before the professor headed for the door with Goodwitch.

"Good luck." He said before the two adults exited the room. Blake walked up to one of the many boxes that sat on the table.

 _This is going to be a long day._ She thought with a sigh.

* * *

The young girl licked her lips as the waitress set down the combination of strawberries, vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup in front of her. Her mouth watered at the delicious sight before her. The silver-eyed girl looked up from her treat to see her father and sister getting their own sundaes.

"Dig in girls," Taiyang said with a smile, "my treat."

Ruby, as well as her sister, were more than happy to oblige their father's offer. The young girl took her spoon and began to dig viciously into her sweet. In her vigorous she failed to take into account the effects of eating something cold so fast. A slight ache in her head caused her to drop her spoon at clutch her head.

"You're always adorable when you do that." Yang said with a laugh. Ruby glared in response.

"Now. Now." Their father said while waving his spoon at them. "Play nice you two."

"Alright. We'll be _cool._ " The blonde-haired girl said before wiggling her eyebrows. Ruby and Tai could only give her a deadpan stare. "You guys are no fun."

"You're as bad as your mother, dear." Tai said shaking his head. Yang stuck her tongue out. The family antics caused Ruby to giggle. "So how has school been going? Having you been keep up with your assignments?"

"Yep." The youngest girl said giving a salute. "Everything is good on that front, sir."

"Good to know young soldier." Her father said with a small laugh. "Have you been getting along with your friends?"

"Yup." Yang said with some ice cream in her mouth. "Blake is more open than she was when we first met and Weiss isn't such an uptight bi-"

"Brat." Ruby said quickly cutting off her sister's comment.

"Any boyfriends I should know about?" Tai said, this time a bit of sternness in his voice.

"Nope." The hooded girl answered. "But Weiss and Blake do."

"They're long distance relationships." Yang added. "Both of them go to Haven."

"So I don't have to brake some poor boy's legs then?"

"No, dad." The oldest girl said while rolling her eyes. "Your daughters haven't been courted. Yet."

The last bit caused their father to give a slight glare. Which once again caused Ruby to giggle. She felt good. Better than good. The dual-colored haired girl felt great. She had been so tense over the past few months that being with her family felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Soon the small family finished their ice cream and head back for Beacon. Little did Ruby know that the tension would soon rise to a new level.

* * *

Blake rubbed her eyes after she finished looking over another report on the case. She and Weiss had been in the room for a few hours already trying to find something that they didn't already know that could assist in finally bring an end to Kido's mad quest for Ruby. But they couldn't find anything new that could help them. Each report was pretty much the same. A White Fang hideout was attacked, Faunus were killed, a note and black rose were left behind, and something was missing.

The Faunus girl decided to look over the manuscripts of the items her form brothers and sisters had been gathering. The information she could gather was the same from the time she and Sun had broken into the police station's evidence room. Dust canisters missing from one hideout. Wires from another. Tubes. Dust. The list went on and she still didn't know what this "sphere" was.

Then she came across the manuscript form Kido's last attack on the White Fang. The detective had noted two items missing. Something so small it could easily be overlooked. Two small dust crystals. The gears in her head started to turn as she put the pieces together. Her amber-eyes slowly widening as she started to realize what Kido could be possibly making.

"Hey, Blake?" Weiss said braking the black-haired girls train of thought. She was holding out a piece of paper. "What do you make of this?"

Blake took the paper and saw it was another one of Kido's "love" letters.

_Oh my fair Rose. Time is of the essence. The detective almost brought everything to an end. But I am ready. I am ready to bring us together. To fulfill our destiny. Tomorrow, all of Vale will see our love. It will become a Beacon for all to see. And no one will be able to stop us. So my sweet Rose be ready. Be ready for us to be together forever._

That was it. This letter was the final piece of the puzzle that brought everything together. All of those items he took and all the letters. Blake finally knew what he was planning. And it was terrifying. She immediately tore for the door leaving Weiss without a word. And headed for Beacon's tower.

"Blake!" Weiss called out to her. But the Faunus ignored her. She had to get to Ozpin and tell him what was going to happen. Blake made it into the tower and headed straight for the elevator. Luckily it was on the ground floor and opened when she pressed the button. Just as the doors closed behind her Weiss jumped in. "Blake, what is going on?"

"I know what he is planning." Blake said into between breaths after the long run. "All of those things he has been taking. All of those letters. He's insane."

"We already knew his mental state." The white-haired girl said. "But what is he planning?"

"The things he has been taking-" Blake was almost hesitant to continue. "They can make a bomb, a very big bomb. And he is going to use it today"

"Wh- Why?" Weiss seemed flabbergasted. "And where is he going to set it off?"

"It's got to be one of those 'if he kills himself and Ruby they can be together in the afterlife.'" Blake said with worry. "And those letters. I should of seen it sooner. Every one of them had the word beacon in them. But he wasn't saying beacon, he was saying _Beacon._ "

She looked fearfully into her friend's blue-eyes.

"He's going to blow up the school."


	11. Evac

The elder man rubbed his temples as he looked out the window overlooking his academy. A school that he had spent years building up and raising generations of huntsmen. Now it was once again under threat of destruction. Ozpin couldn't help but wonder if this was partly his fault. Once he found out what this affair was all about the silver-haired man began to think that perhaps he should have kept a closer eye on Kaito's condition. The young man's deteriorated state was evident of how far the boy's mind had gone.

The conversations happening behind him brought him back to the matter at hand. He turned to see Taiyang and Glynda discussing what to do about Kaito's plan. The three older girls of Team RWBY trying to figure out the insanity of what was going on. And Ruby. Ruby was sitting with her hood up. Her head down. Ozpin could only imagine what was going through the young girl's head. But he had more important things to attend to now.

"Ms. Belladonna," Ozpins said getting the Faunus girl's attention, "you are certain about this?"

The Headmaster had asked Blake before the Rose-Xiao Long family returned to Beacon but he couldn't help but asked again hoping she was mistaken and that she realized that she had misinterpreted the evidence.

"I'm sure, sir." The black haired girl said to his despair. "The letters. The equipment he has taken from the White Fang. All of it points to him wanting to set off a bomb here."

"Can you tell how large the blast radius will be?" Glynda asked with a hint of worry breaking though her usual calm demeanor. "Or what it might even look like?"

"I don't know." Blake said. "But based on the letters. It will be big enough to be seen from Vale."

Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose as he contemplated his next move. To have a second crisis on his hands in just two years was having a daunting effect on him. It was as if Beacon was taking its namesake in the wrong direction. And once again Team RWBY was at the center of it. He could imagine how they must feel. The Headmaster would have to handle his next decision carefully. Otherwise there might be panic across the academy.

"Glynda, I want you to begin evacuation protocols." His request appeared to catch his companion off guard as she looked at him in surprise. "Have all staff members and fourth year students assist in directing students to the airbuses. I will send word to the Vale Council for transportation. Tai… would you be willing to assist in the evacuation."

The blond haired man looked at his two daughters before returning his attention to Ozpin. A silent agreement passed between the two and the elder man gave a small nod to confirm it.

"Alright, just tell me where you will need me to go when you're ready." Taiyang said.

"What about us?" Ruby asked, speaking for the first time since hearing the news. "What can we do?"

Ozpin looked at the her and her team. He already had an answer for that. The professor knew they weren't going to like it, in particular Ruby. But it was necessary. For the safety of Beacon as well as their own.

"Being sophomores you will leave with the rest of the students as per protocol." As he expected he was met with objections from the young girls.

"Sir, I mean no disrespect but we have been part of this from the beginning." Weiss said adamantly.

"We can help, sir." Blake said firmly. "We've done so much already."

"You can't just cut us out now." Yang said strongly. Her hand on her sister's shoulder tightened. "He has done enough damage already."

"We have to do something to help." Ruby pleaded. "Everyone is in danger because Katio is after me."

"Which is why you in particular must leave, Ruby." Ozpin said sternly. "If you're not here, he has no reason to detonate that bomb. This has gone beyond you and your team now. All of Beacon is at risk and the safety of everyone must be taken into consideration."

The Headmaster's statement seemed to deflate any further objections from the young team. The young leader seemed to be effected most of all. Ozpin couldn't blame her. For months Katio had been hounding the poor girl with his very misguided shows of affection. Now the whole school being in danger was putting a lot of pressure on Ruby's young mind.

"Girls, please." Taiyang spoke up get his daughters' attention. The look on the man's face said what he wanted them to do and any further resistance from them seem to crumble.

"Alright." Ruby said solemnly.

* * *

"Please calmly and orderly walk towards the docks." Tai heard one of the senior students tell their younger colleagues as they passed by. The blond-haired man was deeply impressed with how the evacuation was being handled. Everything was being done in an orderly fashion without the slightest sign of panic. There were of course some worried looks on some of the student's faces but they remained calm non the less. A testament to their training to become huntsmen.

Ever since the White Fang attack last year Ozpin had set plans for a number of scenarios for the safety of his student. It seemed the Headmaster made sure that all of his students knew what to do if any of those scenarios happened. Tai looked around and saw that Beacon staff members were directing people out of the buildings while the senior students were spread out across the courtyard directing them towards the docks. Tai was at ease knowing his daughters were among them. The blond-haired man continued his walk towards the building containing classrooms and approached a green-haired man.

"Professor Oobleck." He said with a small smirk. "Good to see you again."

" _Doctor_." The caffeine fueled man corrected adamantly. "And it is good to see you to Mr. Xiao Long."

"How are things going here?" Tai asked as students continued to file out of the building.

"Splendidly." Oobleck stated. "I am proud to say that the students are handling the situation well and are moving in an orderly fashion. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Tai couldn't help but agree with the man as he watched the students go by.

"Anything I can do to help in the evacuation?" The blue-eyed man asked.

"You could go through the building and see if everyone has gotten out alright." The green-haired man suggested.

"Will do," Tai said before adding in a little jab, "professor."

"Doctor!" Oobleck yelled back as the blond walked into the building with a smirk.

* * *

He pushed the large container along through the thong of students. None of them seemed to even contemplate Kaito's presence or what he was doing. All of them seemed too busy with what was going on. Which was perfect for the man and his plans. It would only be a matter of time before everything was in place. As he approached the building Kaito's only worry was Ruby leaving. But she wouldn't leave. He knew it. Destiny was calling them together and soon all of Vale would know it.

The dark haired man pushed the crate through the large doors and move into the large hall. It would be the perfect place for their final dance. He moved further in until he was in the center of the room. Kaito opened the container holding the masterpiece within. And with a few quick pressed buttons and flipped switch it was all but ready. Now all he needed to do was to draw his dear rose to him. And then finally be together. Forever.

* * *

Ruby couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something as she and her team walked towards the Bullhead waiting for them. Perhaps she was just overthinking at the moment. With everything going on she had grown anxious. The hooded girl just wanted to do something, anything that could help. But Ozpin and her father were insistent that she leave the academy's grounds. Her thoughts her disrupted when she felt a firm hand land on her shoulder.

"You doing alright, sis?" Yang asked her with a worried expression.

"Yeah, I'm okay." The younger sister stated somberly. "I just wished there was something we could do to help."

"I know you do." The blonde responded.

"To be fair," Weiss spoke up, "Ozpin has a point. If you- we aren't here, then Kido has no reason to set off the bomb."

Ruby couldn't deny her partner's statement. The farther away from here she was the safer everyone would be. But still. She wanted to something. Anything other than running away. That was something she couldn't just do. Helping people was what she did. It was what she was taught to do. What she had been training to do. Now she couldn't do that without putting others in danger.

They continued their walk towards the Bullhead that Ozpin had prepared for them to take them away from Beacon. The young girl's thoughts returned to trying figure out what she was forgetting. It had to be something important to be bugging her so much. Ruby raked through her mind looking for what it was. As she got closer to the Bullhead it hit her.

"Oh no," she gasped, "I forgot about Zwei!"

Ruby turned to run back towards the school's dorms only to have a part of strong hands stop her. She turned her head to see that it was Yang

"Wait a second, Ruby." She said firmly.

"We can't leave him here Yang." Ruby pleaded.

"And we won't." Yang said. "You'll stay here and I'll go get him. It's safer that way."

"Hey pilot you're going to have to wait a while." Yang said to the man who had just been standing by waiting for them. "I got a pick up errand to run."

"Wait…" The flabbergasted pilot said, "what?"

The blonde was already running off before he could say another word.

"Yang be careful!" Ruby yelled after her.

"When am I not?" The older sister called back.

She could only give a deadpan stare at her sister's retreating form.

"I'm so going to get fired for this." The pilot said.

* * *

It didn't take her long to get to the dorm. Once she was inside Yang made her way for the stairs so she could get to her room's floor. A commotion down the hallway however got her attention. It sounded like a bunch of items falling on the ground and she could swear someone is crying. Yang looked back up the stairs contemplating she may have just been hearing things and she should just go get Zwei and run back to the Bullhead to get Ruby away from here. But if someone was still in the dorm, the blonde just couldn't leave them.

"Hello." The blonde called out. "Is anyone there?"

Now she defiantly heard movement coming from a room further down the hallway. Yang walked down the hallway towards the noise, as she got closer she defiantly hearing someone cry. It sounded like a young girl. The blonde couldn't help but wonder what a young girl would be doing here. Yang knocked on the door to try and get a response. Instead she just heard more crying.

"Hey, in there." Yang call out in a reassuring voice. "I'm coming in, okay."

When she received no protest so the blonde entered what appeared to be a storage room. The lilac-eyed girl was confused. There was no one in the room. There were items on the floor indicating what some of the noise had been coming from. But no sign of the crying girl. That was until her eyes fell on a little doll sitting on a shelf.

Yang grabbed the out of place item and inspected it. It looked like any other doll you would give to a little girl. It had red curly hair, and wore a pink dress on bonnet. On the back was a string that just ordered "pull me." Which the blonde indulged. When she did the doll started to cry. The same cry that Yang had heard before.

"What the-" She began to say but stopped when she heard movement behind her. But before Yang could turn around to respond she felt a heavy object slam into the back of her head causing the blonde to tumble forward face first into the ground. Her head was spinning and before she could regather her thoughts Yang felt another hard hit to her head and everything went dark.


	12. Baited Rose

Her head was groggy and it hurt like hell. The world was returning to Yang in a blurry haze. She tried to remember where she was and what she had been doing. But the blonde was having a hard time with her head pounding like a drum. As her thought began to return to her, she felt that her hands and feet were bound together. It was then that Yang realized what must have happened. Someone attacked her and now held her captive. Poor fool didn't know who they were dealing with, was all she could think about.

The world finally returned to her vision and the lilac eyed girl looked around to take in her surroundings and figure out what she could do. Yang saw that she was in Beacon's dining hall. She could see the long tables and the light coming through the large windows on either side of her. The blond looked at her bindings to see that her feet were tightly bound by rope. The bindings around her hands were metallic and there was a metal box with a couple of small dust filled canisters attached and a cable leading somewhere behind her.

In her grogginess Yang slowly pushed herself up into sitting position as best as she could with her feet bound. The blonde looked back at her metal bindings and studied them. The brawler flexed her wrist a bit to test the sturdiness of the metal. With a small smile she estimated that she could break them with ease. But just before she could a voice behind her made her stop any further action.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The voice said. "Those retrains might react explosively."

Yang turned her head to see a black hooded figure standing over a large container. Her fist tightened at the sight of the man. Kaito, with his back to her, was doing something with whatever was in the container. The blonde didn't know what he was doing exactly but she knew that the container had to have the bomb in it. She also noticed that the cable connected to her restraints was going into the container. Sitting on a distant table were Ember Celica. Too far for her to get to.

"You!" Yang growled at the man who was after her sister's life. The bawler tried to get up to attack him but immediately fell back down due to her feet being bound. All she could really do was glare at the man's back. "What's going on? Why am I here?"

"You're here as bait." He said without turning to face her. Continuing his work on the bomb.

"Bait…" The blonde haired girl said in horror realizing what he meant. "No."

"Yes." Kaito said finally turning around to face her. "I will be honest. I did not expect my riddles to be solved. I had planned to bring the bomb here and set it off to be with my beloved. But when perpetrations for an evacuation began I had to move quickly. I had to bring the device here as quickly as I could. But that left me to solve how to make sure my dear Rose would be here. Ozpin would for sure send her away. So I need something… someone that she cared about for her to stay. Imagine my luck when I saw you running across the campus. With you here my beloved will come. And then we can finally fulfill our destiny."

"How does killing my sister fulfil you deluded sense of destiny!" Yang yell at the man.

"This world will never allow me and my beloved to be together." Kaito said with a bit of venom as he glared at her. "People like Ozpin. People like you, will make sure of that. I was denied love once before. I will not be denied again. The only way for that to happen is to for me and my Rose to be in the afterlife. And the whole world will see and know it."

"You're insane." The lilac eyed girl said while glaring at the dark haired man.

"Insanity and love go hand in hand with one another." The dark haired boy said as his hand reached for her cheek. Yang flinched away from him. He only gave a small smile as he dropped his hand.

"So you have your bait." Yang glared at Kaito. "Just how are you planning to get my sister to know this? By now she is far from here."

As if fate was just waiting for her to say something, her scroll went off. Kaito just smiled and reached for it. Yang tried to pull away but the blonde could only go so far while she was bound. Once he had the scroll he pulled it open. To her horror, Ruby's name and picture showed up.

* * *

Ruby paced back and forth as she and her friends waited for her sister's return with Zwei. It had been an hour already since Yang took off and the younger sister was beginning worry. Many of the airbuses had already taken off with students on board. Their pilot was getting anxious and saying they had to leave. But Ruby refused to go anywhere without Yang.

"Ruby, I'm sure she will be back any minute now." Weiss said reassuringly. Although the young leader appreciated her partners attempt to calm her down, Ruby couldn't stay calm.

"She should have been back by now." Ruby said worriedly. The silver-eyed girl looked back at the school looking for any movement. When she saw nothing her anxiety only grew. "What if something has happened?"

"Ruby, your sister is quite capable of looking after herself." Blake said as she leaned against the Bullhead. "You've got nothing to worry about."

She knew they were right but she could stop feeling like something was wrong. Ruby continued to pace back and forth and waited for Yang's return. Eventually Weiss let out a frustrating sigh.

"If you are that worried about her just call her." The heiress stated. The young leader felt a bit stupid that in her anxiety that she had completely over looked just calling her sister up. Ruby pulled out her scroll and went to her contacts to call up Yang. After a moment the call went through.

"Yang, where are you?" Ruby asked, but she received no answer. "Yang?"

There was a moment of continued silence which only served to raise Ruby's concern event more. Finally, someone answered. But it wasn't Yang. The voice that answered made her blood run cold.

"Hello my sweet Rose." The familiar voice said.

"Ka- Kaito?" Ruby strutted. She saw Weiss and Blake tense up but the young girl was to stunned to say anything to them. The silver-eyed girls voice began to rise as she continued question the man. "What- What is going on? Where's my sister? Why do you have her scroll? What have you done?"

"No need to worry my dear, Rose." Kaito's voice came through with an eerie softness. "Your sister is fine."

"Ruby!" Yang's voice came over the scroll loudly. "Don't come for me! Get as far-"

Whatever her sister was going to say was cut off with a cry of pain.

"Yang!" Ruby screamed.

"Do not worry my, Rose." Kaito said again in an eerie softness. "She still lives. But I can't say for how long. Come to the dining hall. Let us fulfill our destiny."

The young girl heard a series of beeps and then a low humming sound come through her scroll.

"The clock is ticking." He said before the line went dead. Ruby hand began to shake. Her grip loosened and her scroll slipped out of her hands and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Ru- Ruby?" Weiss asked obviously worried. "Don't- Don't worry we'll- "

The young leader didn't give her partner a chance to finish. Ruby ran as fast as she could, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her. She ignored the call of her friends. The young girl had to get to her sister and save her.

* * *

Yang hoped Ruby wouldn't come for. She hoped her little sister would do the smart thing at get as far away from here as she could. But the blonde new her sister to well. Ruby wouldn't stand by when people were in danger. Especially when those people are family. So Yang couldn't say she was surprised when the doors to the building burst open and the hooded girl ran in with Crescent Rose at the ready. That didn't stop the bawler from yelling at the girl.

"Ruby, what are you doing here?" The blonde yelled. "You need to run! He's activated the bomb! Get as far away as you can."

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Her sister yelled back adamantly. "We are getting out of here together."

"Touching." Kaito said. He walked around his bomb and stepped towards Ruby. "But our destiny cannot be stopped now. Embrace it my dear Rose. Soon all of Vale will know that we are meant to be. And we will be together forever."

"I can't let you do this." Ruby said sincerely while hold up her scythe defensively. "I've tried to reason with you. But you won't stop. Will you?"

"Of course not." He said as he pulled out his weapon and it unfolded into a scythe. "Our fate has been decided. We will go with a blaze of glory and all of Vale will see it."

"Ruby!" Weiss and Blake came running into the hall with weapons drawn. "Yang are you alright?"

"Define alright." She snarked back. Yang noticed Kaito tense up at the new arrivals.

"I don't like uninvited guest." The dark haired boy growled as he raised his hand into the air. The blonde noticed the tables on either side of her give off a slight purple glow. When Kaito sung his arm forward the two tables flew off the floor and towards her sister and friends.

"Look out!" Blake yelled as she tackled Weiss to the ground. Ruby reacted quickly and ducked underneath the incoming barrage.

In the commotion Kaito made a beeline for the dinning hall's wall, touching a table along the way before sending it through a window. He only took a moment to look at Ruby before jump through the hole he had crated. Before Yang could stop her, her little sister had already run across the room and out the window.

"Weiss, go help Yang!" Blake's voice brought her attention back to her friends. Her white haired friend was running towards her while Blake ran towards the container holding the bomb. Once Weiss made it to the blonde she cut the rope around Yang's ankles and began to inspect the bindings holding her wrists.

"What is this?" The heiress asked in bewilderment.

"He said they were explosive." Yang informed her. "Forget about me. Go help Ruby."

"Guy's we have a serious problem here!" Blake yelled. The shakiness of her voice made Yang uneasy. "This far worse than I thought."

"What is it?" Yang asked as she and Weiss made their way over to the black haired girl. The lilac eyed girl inspected the containers contents. There were numerous wires and dust canisters with tubes connected to them. Which all connect to a metallic sphere with a metal tube coming out either side of it. "What kind of bomb is this?"

"This- This is," Blake stuttered to say. "This is a high yield dust bomb."

"What?" Weiss asked with a bit of fear in her voice.

"Mind explaining what that means?" Yang asked growing a little uneasy by her friends' increasing anxiety.

"The dust in the canisters are being forced into the sphere creating an unstable mixture." Blake stated. Yang took a moment to look at the canisters and noticed that they were filled with various types of dust and were halfway filled and slowly going empty. "Once the sphere is full the bomb will be primed. Then all it will take is two opposing dust crystals from these tubes to be fired into one another to cause a large explosion."

"How big are we talking about?" Weiss asked. "Beacon?"

"And part of Vale with it." Blake answered.

* * *

The red hooded girl chased after her target through the school's campus. Kaito already had a head start on her and she considered using her semblance to catch up. But seeing the direction he was heading in Ruby decided to conserve her energy for the impending fight. Eventually the black hooded boy came to a stop at the cliff overlooking Vale.

"This will be the perfect place for our final dance." He said once Ruby caught up.

The young girl charged forward with Crescent Rose at the ready. Kaito was quick to respond as he turned around and used his own weapon to block her attack. Ruby was quick to jump away before he could mount a counter attack. She quickly put herself into a defensive stance just as the dark haired boy came running towards her. Kaito's strikes were quick and precise. But Ruby was able to block each of them.

One of his strikes hit Crescent Rose so hard that the black scythe bounced making black hooded man lose his balance leaving the dark haired boy open. Seeing this Ruby quickly sped around him and slammed her weapon into the man's back sending him flying until he hit the ground. Kaito was quick to pick himself up and the red hooded girl couldn't help but shiver at the slight smile on his face.

"Now we can have a really dance." He said in an eerie softness. Kaito quickly ran towards her and Ruby readied Crescent Rose for his attack. The moment he was in striking range she swung her weapon but the dark haired man was ready for that. He jumped back just in time for her blade to miss it's attended target leaving her exposed. Ruby was helpless to stop the back of Kaito's scythe from striking her across her face. The dual colored haired girl slammed into the ground with a cry off pain. The silver-eyed girl quickly regained her senses and got on feet quickly and put some distance between her and the black hooded boy.

"Yes, that's it." Kaito said pausing a moment to look at a watch on his wrist. "Let's make our final moments on this plane of existence glorious."

* * *

Blake slowly used Myrtenaster fine point to remove the final screw holding the sphere in its cradle. Once the screw fell aside she set Weiss' weapon aside and began feeling around the core for any connecting wires to the cradle. Satisfied that there was no booby-trap in place for moving the sphere the Faunus girl continued with the disarming the bomb.

"Okay," Blake said as calmly as she could, "now lift the sphere slowly. But be careful. It's volatile. That alone can take out the building."

"Ri- Right." Weiss said, clearly nervous at the task she was assisting in. The white haired girl slowly reached down and slowly began to pick up core. Blake intended for her to just set it aside but then the wires and tubes tugged once the sphere was just a couple of feet above the container.

"Stop!" The amber-eyes widening at the sight of the tension between the core and everything connected to it.

"What?" the white-haired girl looked like she was read to jump but luckily kept her cool.

"If we break any of these connecting wires and tubes it could trigger a reaction." Blake informed her.

"Can't you just cut a red wire or something." Yang asked with a hint of irritation.

"This isn't a movie, Yang." Blake said sternly. "That's not going to work and will more than likely set the bomb off."

The Faunus understood Yang's frustration. The blonde haired girl had been forced to sit aside as Blake and Weiss handled disarming the bomb due to her hands being bound and while her sister was off fighting a mad man. Blake assured her that once they disarmed the main bomb the one around her wrist would be deactivated as well. At least she assumed that would be the case based on the metal cable connecting the two.

"So how do you plan to keep this thing from going off then?" Yang asked firmly.

"We have to find some key component." Blake stated. "If we can find something vital and remove it then we can keep the bomb from detonating."

"Um, Blake." Weiss' urgent voice drew the amber-eyed girl's attention back to white-haired friend. "My arms are getting tired and this thing is getting louder."

Indeed, the humming had increased in volume causing Blake to turn her eyes to the canisters in the container. To her horror they were nearly empty. She urgently began shifting through the wires looking for anything vital. At this point she could only hope to find something before their time was up.

* * *

Ruby backpedaled as the black hooded boy continued his assault on her. Kaito had been keeping the red hooded girl on the defensive for a while now making sure she couldn't mount a counter attack. Every time she would try to move to the side to get around him he would quickly move with her to block her. The dark haired boy had learned from his past attack and was keeping his strikes from being too hard which could leave him open for Ruby a chance to get an attack in.

The two were getting closer to the cliffs edge and he was going to have try and redirect Ruby's direction otherwise his dance with his sweet Rose would end. Just as he was about to make a precise strike to make the young girl go left, a loud bang emanated from her weapon and Ruby was propelled right. Far enough away from him to continue his assault. The red hooded girl came charging at him laying down her own barrage of strikes putting him on the defensive. Her attacks were quicker and fluid then his own. It grew more and more difficult for Kaito to keep up with Ruby's strikes.

Her efforts made his heart pound in his chest. The thrill of the dance was getting to him. One hit was strong enough to knock his weapon out of his hands. Suddenly he felt his feet were swept out from under him by the shaft of the girl's weapon causing him to fall to the ground. By the time Kaito regained his senses Ruby was already over him with her weapon in its rifle mode, pointing at his head.

"It's over, Kaito." Ruby said between huffs of breaths. "Surrender."

"It's not over yet my sweet Rose." Kaito said with a smile. Suddenly the watch on his wrist began to beep. The girl's eye's darted to the item and he took to opportunity to kick her in the chest causing her to fall the ground. The dark haired boy quickly got up and picked up his weapon and then kicked Ruby's weapon away. He watched briefly as it slid across the ground closer to the cliffs edge.

Kaito returned his attention to the red hooded girl and saw her trying to get up. He quickly jumped on her and buried the blade of his scythe into the ground and used the shaft to bin the girl down. He pulled out a cylinder device with a button on top.

"It's only the beginning for us." Kaito said holding up the device. The girl's silver-eyes widen as he pressed the button. But nothing happened. He pressed it again. And still nothing. The dark haired boy smacked the detonator and pressed it again. The blinding light and heat that should of hit them in an instant never came. His brown eyes looked back at the school. "No!"

* * *

Weiss let out a sigh of relieve as she felt the humming from the device in her hands began to die down. Blake was hold a small black box in her hands.

"Is that it?" Yang asked hesitantly. "Is it safe?"

"Yeah." Blake said letting out a breath. The girl's amber-eyes seemed to study the black box.

"What is it?" The blonde asked eyeing the same item.

"I don't know." Blake said simply. "Could be the trigger. Could be the power source."

"That nice and all." Weiss said starting to get annoyed. "But can I put this thing down now my arms are getting tired."

Blake quickly got up and took the sphere from the white-haired girl's hands and genially set it back down in its cradle. A loud snapping sound drew their attention back to their blonde haired friend. The metal bindings that had been holding Yang's hands together were now on the ground. The blue eyed girl couldn't help but notice a look of shock on Blake's face.

"What?" Yang asked.

"I wasn't sure if that was disarmed as well." Blake said quietly. The lilac eyed girl looked at the metal bindings for a moment and just shrugged.

"All well," she said as she went to the table that held her weapons, "what's done is done."

She began putting on Ember Celica and then head for the broken window made by Kaito.

"Let's go help my sister."

* * *

This was Ruby's chance. Kaito seemed to be stuck in a stunned fury. Before he could regain his senses she quickly kicked him in the back causing him to tumble off her. The dark haired boy had kept his grip on his scythe long enough for his sudden movement to dislodge the blade from the ground just enough for the red hood girl to crawl her away out from under the shaft. She made a dash for Crescent Rose using her semblance to cover the distance.

The dual colored haired girl picked up her weapon and unfolded into its scythe mode. As soon as she turned around Ruby was forced to bring up Crescent Rose in defense as Kaito's weapon came crashing down on her. The look in his brown eyes said it all as he pushed down on her. He was angry. His plan had been ruined.

"I will not let our destiny be thwarted." Kaito proclaimed. Ruby jumped back and took a swing at him at the same time he swung at her. The heads of both scythes met each other and locked together. Both her and the black hooded man pulled at each other's weapon making sure neither would gain the advantage.

"Ruby!" A voice cried out. The young girl looked to see her sister and friends running up from the school. The silver-eyed girl turned back to Kaito to notice that he was still being distracted by the presence of her teammates. So she decided to take advantage and pulled the trigger of her weapon. As expected the recoil sent her back and caused the dark haired man to stumble forward. What she failed to take into account was how close to the cliff edge she was. But now her feet had no surface below them for her to stand. She fell and Kaito came along.

"Ruby!" her sister's voice screamed. She acted quickly and dug Crescent Rose's blade into the cliff side bring her to a sudden stop. Ruby held on as tight as she could as gravity tried to force her down causing her to slide down to the end of her shaft. The young girl looked down to see that Kaito had done the same thing and was just a foot below her. "Ruby!"

The silver-eyed girl looked to see her sister looking over the edge just a few yards above her.

"Guys hold my feet!" Yang said to the others as they helped lower her down the cliff edge. "Ruby climb up and grab my hand."

The young girl began doing so but stopped half way. She looked back down to see Kaito dangling from his own weapon. Ruby didn't even have to think about her next move as she began to climb back down.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Her sister yelled but the younger sister ignored her as she reached the end of her weapon.

"Kaito!" Ruby yelled as she reached down. "Take my hand!"

When he looked up at her she couldn't understand why his eyes her filled with such sorrow.

"They're never let us be together in this life." He stated solemnly,

"Forget about that and take my hand!" Ruby tried to reason.

"I can't let that happen." Kaito almost sound he was broken.

"Just give me your hand." She pleaded.

He raised his hand but instead of reaching for her own the dark haired boy grabbed the edge of his shirt and tore it off. Ruby's eye's widened at what she saw. A bomb strapped to Kaito's chest. He grabbed a detonator off of the bomb.

"I will not be denied again!" Kaito yell. A loud bang went off above Ruby and she saw a dust round impact into the dark haired boy. The attack caused him to lose his grip and fall. The red hooded girl was so stunned by what was happening that she vaguely felt herself being pulled up. Then Kaito's falling body was consumed by a blinding light. Ruby felt a wave of heated air engulf her before everything went dark.


	13. Looking Foward

Ruby's head felt groggy as her senses began to return to her. She could feel that she was on a bed covered in warm sheets. Ruby tried to move a little but winced as she felt a little pain coming from her legs. The young girl tried to open her eyes but she closed them instantly as the blinding light overwhelmed her. Ruby opened her eyes again but slowly this time. The silver eyed girl's vision was foggy but she could make out somethings. She must have been in the infirmary based on the some of the monitors and the iv going into her hand. Ruby could make out some people sitting in the room around her. Two of them had a mess of blonde hair, one was covered in white and the other had black hair. They were sleeping but her stirring must have drawn some attention.

"Ruby!" Yang cried getting up from where she sat. By now Ruby's vision had cleared up enough to see the look of joy on her sister's face. "You're awake!"

The younger sister found herself in the tight embrace of the blonde causing her more pain than usual. She let out a groan that made Yang back away quickly with a look of concern in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ruby." Her sister said. "I got carried away and forgot that you're still recovering."

"I'm alright." Ruby's voice came out hoarse as if she hadn't been talking for a while. By now the others where waking up and gathered around her.

"Hey sweetie." Her father said while placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore." The young girl struggled to get out. She took a moment to look around the room and saw balloons, flowers and get well cards laying on a nearby table. "How long have I've been out?"

"You've been unconscious for a few days." Yang informed her. "Your aura protected you from most of it but the blast still did a number on you. Your legs took some shrapnel so that's why you are hurting so much."

"A few days?" Ruby thought aloud wondering just how strong the bomb was. That's she remembered what the bomb was attached to. "What happened to Kaito?"

The moment of silence and the looks they gave each other was all she need for an answer. The young girl couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness. She had tried to save him. She had reach out to him to pull Kaito to pull him up from the cliff but for some reason he chose to take his own life and tried to take her with him.

"Hey," she felt her father's hand on her shoulder; she must have drifted off because everyone was looking at her with concerned eyes, "can we get you anything."

"Water." Ruby said through her sore throat after thinking for a moment.

"I'll get some for you." Weiss volunteered herself before leaving.

"I'll go get the doctor, he'll want to check-up on you." Blake said leaving the small family to themselves.

Ruby tried to sit up as she waited for her friends return but struggled to do as the young girl's body protested against any movement. Her father and sister were quick to help her by propping some pillows behind her. As she sat there her mind began to go over everything that had happened. All of Kato's actions continued to baffle Ruby. His behavior had grown more erratic as time went on and in the end he took his own life and tried to take her with him. She just couldn't understand why.

"Hey." Yang said in concern; her hand rested on the younger girl's shoulder. "You've got that look in your eyes."

"What look?" Ruby asked confused.

"The one you get when you are doing some deep thinking." Tai stated.

"I was just-" She started to say but began to stumble over her words. "I don't- I just don't understand why he did it. What made him go so far that he was willing to set off a bomb?"

"He was insane." Her sister said, a small amount of venom in her voice. "There was no rational thought going through his mind."

"There has to be some kind of reason." Ruby pointed out.

"An insane man doesn't need a reason, Ruby." Yang adamantly pointed out.

The younger sister was about to continue her argument but was interrupted by a sigh from their father. He sat down and rubbed his temples as his face held an expression of deep thinking.

"Dad?" The younger girl called out to him.

"Ozpin explained the situation to me." Her father stated. "He told me what he had told you two and your teammates. This man had lost so much in his life and couldn't make any lasting connections that he grew desperate for companionship."

"Even so he was still insane." Yang continued to argue.

"Loss can change people, Yang." He stated firmly. "We should know."

The room went silent as the unspoken memories returned. Ruby could vaguely remember them but still had some grasp on them. The silence was broken when their friends returned. Weiss with a pitcher of water and a glass, and Blake with a doctor accompanying her.

After she finally quenched her thirst and soothed her soar throat the doctor began to look her over after shooing everyone but her father out of the room. He asked her some basic questions of how she was feeling and what her pain was on a scale of one to ten. After looking at her injuries he concluded that she would be well enough to leave before the reward ceremony but wouldn't be able to stand for it.

"Reward ceremony?" Ruby asked the others once the doctor had left.

"Yeah that bomb was a lot stronger than we originally thought." Weiss stated.

"We saved a lot of people's lives." Blake added.

"But I wasn't part of that?" The young leader stated after thinking it over. "I was off fighting Kaito."

"Ozpin said that we had worked together as a team and will be rewarded as a team." Yang said.

"But-" Ruby tried to continue her argument before she was interrupted.

"Ruby, stop being so humble and just except the reward." Weiss stated with a bit of irritation in her voice.

"Yeah, sis." Yang added in with a little smirk on her face. "I'm going to be pushing you on to the stage one way or another."

"Oh, alright then." The young girl said quietly.

"You're not actually pouting over this are you?" Weiss asked sounding mystified.

"No." Ruby quickly defended.

"Certainly sounds like you were pouting to me." Yang stated her smirk still present.

"I am not!" The young girl yelled.

"I have to concur with you guys, definitely pouting." Blake added in.

"Guys!" Ruby cried as her face began to turn red. The room was filled with laughter after that. Even her father chuckled.

"You four make a good team." He said gaining their attention. "You keep gaining a reputation before you even graduate and people will be lining up to hire you for missions when you do. All of you will make fine huntresses someday."

Ruby could help but smile and feel her spirit lifted by her father's words. And from the looks on the other faces' he had the same effect on them. It felt like the future was going to be bright for them.


End file.
